Day 21: Al-Aqsa Flood Operation in the city of Jerusalem
On the 21st day of “Al-Aqsa Flood” Operation, the occupation authorities prevented worshipers from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque, except for the elderly, and continued their spread at the gates of the Old City and in its markets, and suppressed prayers in the streets of the city.
The Islamic Endowments Department explained that 5,000 worshipers performed Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Al-Aqsa Mosque was emptied of worshipers, with the exception of elderly women and men, and strict restrictions were imposed on entering it. The forces established their checkpoints and deployed their forces on all the roads leading to it and the neighborhoods near it (Wadi Al-Joz, Silwan), and the streets adjacent to it, in addition to a spread in the streets of the Old City and at the gates of Al-Aqsa.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem explained that the forces set up more than one checkpoint on the roads leading to Al-Aqsa, to check and verify the identities of the worshipers, and at the checkpoints that were set up in the neighborhoods, the worshipers were arrested and forced to return to their homes, and they were prevented from continuing their walk towards the Old City and Al-Aqsa.
The occupation forces suppressed prayers in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood several times, using sound and tear gas bombs, and spraying wastewater in the streets of the neighborhood and toward buildings, homes, and shops.
Despite the repression in Wadi Joz, young men held prayers in the streets of the neighborhood.
In the Ras al-Amoud neighborhood, the forces attacked worshipers by beating and pushing them, and prevented them from praying in the streets, while hundreds of worshipers prayed on the sidewalks of the neighborhood, after preventing them from reaching Al-Aqsa.
On Al-Wad Street, the forces suppressed the worshipers by beating and pushing them, and arrested a young man during Friday prayers on the road.
The young men also performed Friday prayers in all the markets and alleys of the Old City and at the gates of Al-Aqsa.
A woman from the Old City explained that the forces prevented her from entering Al-Aqsa for Friday prayers, even though her residential address was the “Old City,” and the soldier told her, “Go and pray at home.”
One of the young men from the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood said that the forces are preventing young men for the third Friday in a row from entering Al-Aqsa, and are suppressing them because they want to pray at the closest point they can reach, pointing out that the forces are using bombs and wastewater to prevent prayers in the neighborhood, which is considered the closest to Al-Aqsa.
An elderly man said: “It was very hard to enter Al-Aqsa. The soldier at the gate said “85 and above can enter”. I did not leave the gates of Al-Aqsa, and in conjunction with the Friday sermon, I was able to enter the mosque, but Al-Aqsa was sad and misses its people.”
