Zionist regime detains 4 Palestinian girls at al-Aqsa Mosque

Israeli forces have arrested four Palestinian girls inside the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied West Bank as the regime continues to restrict Palestinians’ access to the religious site.

Witnesses said that Ayah Abu Nab, 16, was detained at the al-Aqsa compound’s Chain Gate as she was trying to enter the site, while 12-year-old Ayah al-Zaghal and Anhar al-Ajlouni as well as Randas Abu Sneina, whose age is unclear, were arrested as they were leaving by the same gate on Sunday, according to Palestinian news agency Ma’an.

The four girls were taken to a nearby police station.

In a separate incident, Hadil al-Rajabi, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl, was physically assaulted by Israeli police inside the al-Aqsa compound on the same day.

Sources inside the Palestinian Ministry of Endowment’s al-Quds (Jerusalem) office, which is based inside the compound, said that Israeli forces also attacked a Palestinian security guard, Abd al-Rahman al-Sharif, who intervened to defend the girl.

Israel continues to restrict the movement of Palestinian worshippers to the al-Aqsa Mosque. The invasion has led to many conflicts between Palestinian worshippers and Israelis.

Nearly 90 percent of Palestinians believe that Israel is going to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque and replace it with a temple, a recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research shows.

The Tel Aviv regime has tried to change the demographic makeup of al-Quds over the past decades by constructing illegal settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, located in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds, is a flashpoint Islamic site, also holy to the Jews. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest site after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.