Zionist troops raid al-Aqsa Mosque for third consecutive day
Zionist military forces have stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of al-Quds, assaulting Muslim worshipers inside prayer halls and blockading their entry while clearing the way for extremist Israeli settlers to enter the holy site to mark a Jewish holiday.
According to the Palestinian Safa news agency, hundreds of special forces entered the mosque’s courtyard and began forcing out Palestinians observing the rituals of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Israeli troops attacked people as they came to perform dawn prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque and erected metal barriers outside Lions’ Gate of the Old City.
The barriers prevent people from sitting and moving easily in the plaza, while heavily armed Israeli forces patrol the streets.
Israeli forces also imposed restrictions on the entry of worshipers, allowing only the residents of the Old City inside and withholding the identity cards of those arriving to pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque.
The troops evacuated women from the vicinity of the silver-domed Qibli prayer hall in preparation for the settlers’ incursion and blocked dozens of young Palestinians indoors.
Those who were trapped inside and were not able to evacuate responded by banging on the doors.
The youths also placed stones and boulders in the path of Israeli settlers, forcing them to use another route.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that hundreds of settlers stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound under the protection of Israeli forces, who fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades at worshipers in the Qibli prayer hall.
The settlers entered the compound through the Moroccan Gate on Tuesday morning to mark the Jewish holiday of Passover and perform Talmudic prayers.
Palestinian teenage girl succumbs to wounds
Meanwhile, a Palestinian girl succumbed to wounds she sustained last week when she was shot by Israeli forces, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement.
The statement said Hanan Mahmoud Khadour, a resident of the northern West Bank village of Faqqu’a, was shot in the abdomen during an Israeli military raid on April 9.
The 18-year-old was on her way to school. She was critically injured and taken to hospital.
Al-Aqsa Mosque solidarity protests held in US, Kuwait
Furthermore, pro-Palestine solidarity marches have been held around the world, with protesters demanding that their respective governments stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against Palestinians.
Hundreds of Palestinians and Arabs in addition to foreign activists participated in a mass demonstration in the American city of Chicago, condemning Israeli attacks on Palestinians, especially in the occupied city of al-Quds.
The participants in the march, which was organized by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine, waved Palestinian flags and called for an end to repeated attacks by Israeli forces on worshipers in the al-Aqsa Mosque.
