Sheikh Sabri slams Israel’s use of violence against Aqsa Mosque worshipers

Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the preacher of the Aqsa Mosque and head of the higher Islamic authority, strongly denounced the Israeli occupation forces for attacking and detaining dozens of Palestinian worshipers at the Aqsa Mosque following the Friday prayers yesterday.

Sheikh Sabri told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that this violent raid on the Mosque and its Muslim visitors was and would not be the first because the Israeli regime violates the sanctity of the Aqsa Mosque every day.

He expressed his belief that the raid was premeditated and aimed at breaking the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in occupied Jerusalem.
In this regard, Al-Quds international institution described what had happened yesterday and earlier at the Aqsa Mosque as a grave precedent and a threat to its existence.

It stated in a press release that the Israeli regime aims through such actions to control the Aqsa Mosque and the Muslim religious activities inside it.

A large number of Israeli troops and policemen had been deployed in the early morning hours on Friday throughout Jerusalem and near the Aqsa Mosque.

The intensive military presence in the holy city came following intelligence information claiming that the Palestinians would go on a march following the Friday prayers in protest at the desecration of a copy of the holy Qur’an a few days ago by an Israeli police at the Mosque.

Immediately after the worshipers finished their congregational prayers, the Israeli troops and policemen stormed the Aqsa Mosque’s courtyard and started to clash with the worshipers.

The Israeli forces attacked the worshipers with tear gas and stun grenades causing many Palestinian worshipers to suffocate. Their attack also led to the burning of one of the old Aqsa Mosque’s doors.

According to a report by the Arab union of paramedics, about 20 Palestinian worshipers suffered injuries as a result of their exposure to beatings by the invading Israeli forces, and about 70 others, who were inside the old Aqsa Mosque, suffered tear gas suffocation.