Day 112: Jerusalem during “Al-Aqsa Flood” Operation
On the 112th day of “Al-Aqsa Flood Operation,” the occupation authorities prevented thousands of worshipers from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayers, and suppressed prayers in the streets of the city of Jerusalem. In a new violation of the “prisoner exchange deal,” the court appointed at the end of this month a hearing for the freed girl, Nufuth Hammad.
Al-Aqsa...the siege continues and strict measures are in place on Friday
The measures of the occupation authorities prevented thousands of worshipers from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayers, and the Islamic Endowments Department estimated the number of worshipers who performed Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa at 12,000 worshippers.
Since the seventh of last October, the occupation authorities have imposed restrictions on Muslims entering Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Al-Aqsa’s mosques, prayer halls, courtyards, and corridors were almost empty of worshippers, due to the restrictions and procedures taken in Jerusalem in general and at the gates of Al-Aqsa in particular, at a time when Al-Aqsa used to be filled with worshipers every Friday before the start of the war.
At the gates of Al-Aqsa, the Old City, and the surrounding streets, and in the Wadi Al-Joz and Ras Al-Amoud neighborhoods, forces deployed in large numbers, set up iron barriers, and randomly stopped those arriving to Al-Aqsa, targeting boys and men between the ages of 13 and 55 years, and prevented most of them from entering Al-Aqsa, and only allowed a small number of people, mostly women and elderly, to enter.
“Between every checkpoint and another... there is a checkpoint... and if we pass through the first or second checkpoint, we are turned back and prevented from entering Al-Aqsa at the third checkpoint or at the gate of the Old City.” A young Jerusalemite man describes the road leading to Al-Aqsa from the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood, passing through the Yusufiya cemetery road, and reaching the Lions' Gate.
The young man added: “Since the beginning of the war, I have not been able to enter Al-Aqsa, whether on Fridays or throughout the week. There is no clear reason or excuse. Sometimes my identity is checked and I am returned under the pretext that I am not a resident of the Old City, and sometimes the argument says: “I am young and am not allowed to enter.” Many times, without any identity check, the policeman asks me to return.”
The young man in his thirties added: “Every time I am prevented from entering, and every Friday I try and the rest of the week as well, and we will not leave Al-Aqsa alone.”
Hundreds of people from inside Palestinian 1948 lands made their way to Al-Aqsa Mosque, and a Palestinian woman said: “The women were allowed to enter Al-Aqsa. They tried to obstruct the entry of some of us, but we tried through several gates until we entered, but the young men were prevented from entering the mosque.”
In the streets of Jerusalem, prayers were held despite oppression and persecution. In the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood, the forces fired gas bombs in several areas of the neighborhood and its alleys, to prevent prayer in the streets. They arrested the Jerusalemite activist, Mohammad Abu al-Hummos, while he was praying alone on the side of the road, and the forces pursued the young men in several areas in the neighborhood to prevent them from praying in the streets.
In the Ras al-Amoud neighborhood, Lions Gate Road, the forces attacked some young men by pushing and beating them, in an attempt to prevent prayer in the street.
Dawn prayer at the thresholds of Al-Aqsa
The occupation authorities imposed restrictions on the entry of worshipers to Al-Aqsa since the dawn prayer, and dozens of residents of the Palestinian 1948 lands and Jerusalem performed prayers on the road to the Yusufiya Cemetery after they were prevented from reaching Al-Aqsa and forcibly removed from the vicinity of Lions Gate.
Freed prisoner Nufuth Hammad... before the courts again
A new violation of the prisoner exchange deal that took place between Israel and Hamas, this time against the freed prisoner Nufuth Hammad, who was released in the fourth batch of the deal, last November.
The “Netanya” court set a new session for the freed prisoner, Nufuth Hammad, from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, on 31/1/2024, regarding the issue of “assaulting a female prison guard in Hasharon Prison” during her detention, and asked her to attend the session.
The raids into the towns and neighborhoods of Jerusalem continued, as well as setting up checkpoints.
