Al-Aqsa during Al-Adha Eid…grenades…injuries…arrests…and storming the Mosque
Dozens of Palestinians were injured and eight youths were arrested on Sunday, after the Israeli occupation forces attacked worshipers stationed in Al-Aqsa Mosque, to secure it from settlers' storming of Al-Aqsa courtyards in memory of the so-called "Destruction of the Temple."
Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that the Israeli occupation forces attacked worshipers celebrating Al-Adha Eid with sound grenades, rubber bullets and beatings, several minutes after the end of Eid prayers and sermons in Al-Aqsa, during their rally and their gatherings in the courtyard of Dung Gate.
The Center added that dozens of officers, special forces and police stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque through Dung Gate, immediately after the Eid prayers, and were stationed at its doors. Hundreds of worshippers “men, women and children along with religious figures” gathered in the area to confront the settlers and forces and prevent them from storming Al-Aqsa. However, the Israeli occupation forces quickly attacked, suppressed and dispersed them using sound grenades and rubber bullets, in addition to beatingthem with batons, pushing and kicking them. The forces then deployed in the courtyards and suppressed the worshippers wherever they gathered, and the courtyards turned into a “war zone”. The forces then evicted the youths by forces after chasing and beating them, and prevented anyone from entering.
The Center added that the Israeli occupation forces surrounded dozens of worshipers inside Al-QibaliMosque for hours, and prevented access to the area between Dung and Al-Silsileh gates.
Firas al-Dibs, head of public relations and media at the Islamic Awqaf Department, explained that 1336 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa, on the first day of Al-Adha Eid, in a violation to a previous agreement stating to stop intrusions on Islamic holidays, and in another breach also changing the morning period of intrusions, which is usually done from 7:30 to 11:00 a.m.On Sunday, intrusions started at 10:55 am until 11:40 during which 450 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa, stressing that this is the first time that Al-Aqsa is stormed during the Eid since its occupation.
He pointed out that the Israeli occupation authorities allocated a special route for the settlers to storm, from Dung Gate to Al-Silsileh Gate “only a few meters”.
Al-Aqsa emergency clinics affiliated to the Arab Health Center explained that about 65 injuries were treated in Al-Aqsa Mosque, including: a woman who suffered fractures in the jaw, an elderly woman with pelvic fractures, two foot fractures, a head injury, and burns from shrapnel of sound grenades “first and second degree burns”. Among the injuries were Adnan Husseini, former Minister of Jerusalem, and Sheikh Abdul Azim Salhab, chairman of Al-Awqaf Council.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that its crews transported 15 injuries to Al-Maqased Hospital, and one injury to Hadassah Ein Kerem, while the rest of the injuries were treated on field.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center’s lawyer, Razan Jubeh, explained that 8 Jerusalemites were arrested from Al-Aqsa: Youth; Abdul Rahman Sinokrot, Mohammed Maatouk, Ashour Maatouk, Moab Abu Khdeir, Suhaib Aqaba, Mohammad Joudeh, Fadi Farid and Ramzi Abeesan.
She added that all the detainees were wounded and bruised, and added that the occupation forces released three detainees for their need for treatment, provided that they come for investigation on Monday.
"There is no status quo when it comes to the Temple Mount," the Jerusalem Brigade police chief said in a social media post.
He also issued a statement to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he decided to allow Jews to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque on the morning of Al-Adha Eid, because the Jews have the right to "commemorate the destruction of the Temple" in the Temple Mount, and discussed during the past few days how to secure the storming of extremists into Al-Aqsa, he said that the dispute was not over the entry of Jews, but the way they storm the Mosque.
