April 2023 in Jerusalem
The occupation authorities escalated their attacks on the Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem, during the month of April, which coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, and the Christian and Jewish holidays. Al-Aqsa Mosque was the focus of attacks on fasting Muslims during their I’tikaf, and the vicinity of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was the focus of attacks on Christians during their celebration, while the streets of Jerusalem were the scene of shootings and arrests by the occupation forces and settlers.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored the most prominent violations and attacks during the month of April in its monthly report.
A Martyr and continuing to detain the bodies of martyrs
On March 24, 2023, the Jerusalemite Hatem Abu Nijmeh, 39, was shot dead by a settler, under the pretext of carrying out a run-over attack on Jaffa Street, in West Jerusalem. The occupation police said that 5 people were injured, including one seriously.
The information center said that the occupation authorities continue to detain the bodies of fourteen Jerusalemite martyrs in refrigerators: the body of the martyr Mesbah Abu Sbeih (since October 2016), the body of the martyr Fadi al-Qunbar (since January 2017), the body of the martyr Aziz Aweisat (since May 2018), and the two martyrs Shaher Abu Khadija and Zuhdi al-Tawil (since May 2021), the martyr Fadi Abu Shkheidem (since November 2021), the martyr Karim Jamal al-Qawasmi (since March 2022), the body of martyr Mohammad Abu Jom’a (since September 2022), the body of martyr Uday Al-Tamimi (since October 2022), the body of Amer Hussam Halabiya (since November 2022), the body of the martyr Khairy Alqam and Wadi’ Abu Rammouz (since January 2023), the body of martyr Hussein Qaraqe’ (since February 2023), and the body of martyr Hatem Abu Nijmeh (since April 2023).
Al-Aqsa Mosque... serious violations
During the month of April, the occupation forces violated the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, by storming and attacking the fasting worshipers, imposing a siege on the mosque and imposing restrictions on entry to it, in addition to attacking the Bab Al-Rahma chapel and preventing the call to prayer, while thousands of settlers carried out their incursions into Al-Aqsa, especially during the "Passover and Independence Day" holidays.
The information center monitored these attacks in a chronological order:
April 2nd (11th of Ramadan): The occupation forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and evacuated the worshipers inside the Al-Qibli prayer hall, after threatening them with arrest.
The occupation forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque again, and evacuated the worshipers inside April 3rd (12th of Ramadan): The Al-Qibli prayer hall, after threatening them with arrest.
April 4th (13th of Ramadan): At ten o'clock in the evening, during Al-Taraweeh prayers, the forces present at the gates of Al-Aqsa imposed a siege on it, preventing entry to the mosque.
April 5th (14th of Ramadan): The occupation forces began to remove the worshipers from the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and beat some of them to force them to leave, while hundreds of them were performing I’tikaf inside the Al-Qibli prayer hall, coinciding with the deployment at the gates of the mosque and the erection of barriers along the roads leading to Al-Aqsa.
At around 1:00 am, the occupation forces climbed the roofs of the Al-Qibli prayer hall, and after smashing some windows, they fired sound bombs and rubber bullets through them indiscriminately and intensively at the people in I'tikaf. They assaulted the worshipers in I’tikaf with bombs, pepper gas, rubber bullets, and severe beatings, using sticks, plastic chairs, and wood, in addition to trampling on them with their feet. Then they forcibly took out the women and arrested young men and boys. The number of detainees reached 440 people, and the storming continued until 3:30 before dawn.
After the forces withdrew from Al-Aqsa and carried out the arrests, the soldiers stormed it again at dawn prayer and assaulted the worshipers in the squares, then stormed it again in the morning hours "with the beginning of the settlers' incursions" and assaulted the worshipers by beating and arresting them.
Video clips, spread from inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, showed that the occupation soldiers violently and deliberately beat the young men on the head, feet, and back, and hundreds of them had their hands tied behind their back and were forced them to lie on the ground, while beating them with shoes, batons, and rifle butts on the back and head, and this was confirmed by whoever was there.
Many injuries were recorded among women, the elderly, and young men, most notably the injury of a young woman with rib fractures after being targeted with a rubber bullet from close range, the injury of a man with a rubber bullet near his eye, and the injury of a young woman with injuries to her head, in addition to various fractures and bruises.
The matter was not limited to attacking those in I’tikaf in Al-Aqsa, but the forces deliberately destroyed the contents of the Al-Qibli prayer hall, as they threw the Qur’ans on the ground and smashed chairs and a wooden stand for the Qurans, in addition to tampering with and sabotaging the bags of those in I’tikaf, in addition to destroying the contents of the medical clinic adjacent to the mosque.
From the second until the twelfth of April, the attacks of the occupation forces did not stop against the worshipers at the gates of Al-Aqsa, and prevented young men and dozens of women under the age of 40-50 from entering it during the dawn prayer until the noon prayer, during the "Jewish Passover" period. During this period, the forces assaulted the worshipers on their way to perform the Dawn prayer, after preventing them from entering Al-Aqsa, by beating and pushing them in an attempt to prevent them from being stationed at the gates of the mosque.
On several days during the month of Ramadan, as well as on the first days of Eid al-Fiter, the occupation forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and removed the Palestinian banners and flags that hung on the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Pursuing those expelled from Al-Aqsa Mosque that were stationed at its gates
The occupation forces pursued dozens of men (who are expelled from Al-Aqsa Mosque) while they were stationed at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially at the "Mujahideen" road between the Lions Gate and Hutta Gate, in an attempt to prevent them from sitting to perform prayers, especially "Night” and “Al-Taraweeh", by checking their identities and carrying out arrests.
For the third year...targeting Al-Aqsa “call to prayer"
On April 4th, the occupation police cut off the sound of the Night “call to prayer” in Al-Aqsa Mosque, in conjunction with celebrations in Al-Buraq Square to commemorate the “Israeli dead.” Last year, on the same occasion, the occupation authorities cut the wires of the external speakers of Al-Aqsa Mosque, before the Night “call for prayer”, and the call to prayer was limited to the internal speakers of Al-Aqsa chapels, and this happened in 2021, when the forces cut the wires of the minarets and broke several internal doors of the minarets and the acoustics room.
Bab Al-Rahma… Back to the forefront of events again
The Bab al-Rahma chapel in Al-Aqsa Mosque returned to the forefront of events, after it was stormed by the occupation forces twice, on 22/4/2023, "the second day of Eid al-Fiter", and they destroyed the electrical installations and cables inside the chapel, and on 24/4/2023 they sabotaged the installations, confiscated fans, heaters, lighting, prayer rugs, electrical connections, speakers, and wooden dividers.
It is noteworthy that the Bab al-Rahma chapel, "which is located in the eastern region of Al-Aqsa", reopened in 2019 after a 16-year closure and ban on praying in it.
Settlers incursions
During the month of April, thousands of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, at the invitation of groups and organizations of the alleged temple, and performed collective prayers inside it.
During the 4 days of the Jewish Passover holiday, 3430 settlers carried out their incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid a siege on the mosque by preventing young men from entering it from dawn prayers until noon, and withholding identities at the gates of Al-Aqsa, in addition to the intense deployment of forces and intelligence inside Al-Aqsa Mosque.
While 474 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa on the anniversary of the so-called "Israel's independence" according to the Hebrew calendar (April 26), and raised the Israeli flag inside it.
Hundreds of deportations
The occupation authorities escalated the issuance of deportation decisions from the Old City of Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, since the beginning of last April, the most prominent of which was the deportation of hundreds of people from the Old City within a few hours, after the arrests of those who were in the Al-Qibli prayer hall, and then the deportation decisions continued during the month.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored 622 deportation decisions, including deportation decisions from the Old City, Al-Aqsa Mosque, the city of Jerusalem, from the place of residence, and from the streets of the city, and the deportation period ranged from a week to 6 months.
The center pointed out that among the deportation decisions, 433 deportation decisions were monitored from the Old City, and 182 expulsions from Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Dozens of arrests were carried out in Al-Aqsa and its vicinity during the last week of April, under the pretext of "violating the deportation order". It turned out that the police renewed the detention orders without giving them any notification.
Hundreds of arrests in the city of Jerusalem
The occupation authorities escalated the arrests in the city of Jerusalem during the month of April, and hundreds of arrests were recorded from Al-Aqsa Mosque, after a siege of the worshippers performing I’tikaf inside the Al-Qibli prayer hall at the beginning of April, in addition to dozens of arrests from Al-Aqsa and its gates and roads throughout the days of the holy month of Ramadan.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored 766 cases of arrest from the city of Jerusalem, including "two children / less than 12 years old", 128 boys, 20 women.
The center stated that among the detainees were 619 from Al-Aqsa Mosque and its gates and roads during the month of April.
The information center stated that the fifth of April / 14th of Ramadan witnessed the arrest of 440 people from inside the Al-Qibli prayer hall of Al-Aqsa Mosque, after they were beaten and abused. The police transferred some of the detainees by private buses from Al-Buraq Square to a "camp near the town of Issawiya", and then they were transferred to a square near the "Atarot police station in Jerusalem".
The center monitored, through follow-up on arrests after release, that many detainees were found to have been wounded by rubber bullets, bomb shrapnel or batons, and the effects of injuries were clear on the detainees, including blood, swelling, scratches and wounds, and the police prevented them from being referred for treatment or presented to a doctor.
Following up on the condition of dozens of young men after their release, it was found that some of them had fractures to their limbs, nose, and hearing damage.
The center pointed out that it monitored 768 cases of arrest from the city of Jerusalem during the month of Ramadan, from 23/3 to 20/4.
The occupation authorities transferred 3 Jerusalemite youths to administrative detention.
The occupation forces arrested 5 Jerusalemites immediately upon their release after the end of their sentences, and imposed on them condition including "not to celebrate, not to throw firecrackers and not to raise flags or banners during the reception."
Settler attacks
Settlers escalated their attacks on Jerusalemites during the month of April, by firing their own pistols at young men and boys, and by insulting and directing obscene movements at them. The center monitored the following attacks:
• The Jerusalemite boy, Khader Ghorab, was wounded in the shoulder by a settler's bullets, near his house in the Old City. The settler stopped him while he was walking and said to him: Do you want to die? Should I kill you? Then he pulled out the gun and shot him twice.
• A settler fired bullets at the entrance to the town of Al-Tur, towards a group of Jerusalemites, before fleeing towards the "Beit Urt" settlement.
• In two separate incidents, in mid-April, settlers spat on Christians carrying crosses celebrating Easter while walking in the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem.
• At the end of last month, two settlers banged on the door of the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate in the Old City of Jerusalem, then spit on it.
Shooting... injuries while in detention... assaults
The occupation forces continued to attack Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem, by storming towns and neighborhoods, spreading within them and abusing the residents. The most prominent of these attacks are:
• On 4/4/2023: The occupation forces fired bullets at the boy Omar Ibrahim Abu Mayaleh, 15 years old, in the Bi’er Ayoub neighborhood in the town of Silwan, then arrested him. The boy underwent two surgeries after being hit with two bullets in the abdomen and in the leg. After several days in the hospital, he was taken to prison, and an indictment was presented to him.
• On 7/4/2023, the occupation forces fired bullets at the boy Mohammad Yehya Al-Abbasi, 17 years old, in the town of Silwan, wounding him in the abdomen. Despite the injury, the forces arrested him, beat him, and delayed his transfer to an ambulance. After he arrived at the hospital while he was under arrest and handcuffed, it was found that he had internal bleeding and his spleen had exploded, and before he was admitted to the operating room, he was released on condition that he appears for investigation as soon as he is summoned.
• On 17/4/2023, the occupation forces fired bullets at the young man, Abd al-Karim Abu Ta’a, and wounded him in the abdomen area, while he was walking in the “Nabi Yaqoub” settlement in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem. The occupation police claimed that the young man had set fire to a vehicle in the area, in addition to sabotaging other vehicles.
• On 4/4/2023 and 7/4/2023, the occupation forces stormed Al-Maqased Hospital in the town of Al-Tur twice, and spread out in large numbers at its entrances and yards.
• On 15/4/2023, the occupation authorities imposed restrictions on the entry of Christians to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to celebrate the day of "Light Saturday", limiting the number of entry to the church and its courtyards to 1800 people, and setting up police barriers in all roads and intersections leading to the church, and assaulted many of them by beating and pushing.
