Day 343 Jerusalem during “Al-Aqsa Flood” Operation
On the 343rd day of "Al-Aqsa Flood Operation", the occupation authorities imposed restrictions on the entry of worshipers to Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform the dawn and Friday prayers, and prayers were held on the doorsteps of the Old City.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem explained that the police set up their barriers at the gates of Al-Aqsa and the Old City, from the dawn hours until the afternoon hours, and prevented the entry of worshipers "randomly" to Al-Aqsa, and assaulted some of them by beating and pushing, and the worshipers performed Friday prayers on the doorsteps of the Old City.
The center added - according to its field monitoring - that the forces tightened their presence in the "Lions Gate Road" area and placed iron barriers on the road, and prevented entry towards Lions Gate.
The worshipers explained that the police stationed at the gates of Al-Aqsa, while they were heading to perform Friday prayers, randomly stopped them, "a young man might be allowed to enter and his brother or friend might be prevented from entering." One of the young men said: "The procedures (stopping, searching and preventing) are subject to the mood of the policeman standing at the gates of Al-Aqsa. This one enters and this one is prevented," without any reason. The policeman does not even ask for ID, he just asks us, "Where are you from? Beit Hanina...Come on, go to Beit Hanina. This applies to all areas. There are no announced restrictions on the entry of worshipers to Al-Aqsa, but the situation for months has been "prevention, abuse and deprivation of us from entering Al-Aqsa."
The young man added after being prevented: "I and 7 of my friends were walking and when we reached Lions Gate the police stopped 3 of us and prevented us from entering, and the rest were prevented without any reason."
Another young man who was prevented from entering said: "The forces prevented us from entering Al-Aqsa. We try to pray at the closest point to it and listen to the sermon, but we are surprised by the presence of a group of forces, and they forcefully take us out towards Lions Gate "outside the Old City, and walk with us for a distance to prevent us from standing."
The forces also assaulted a number of young men by pushing and beating them, and an assault on one of the young men with sticks was documented after he was chased inside the Yusufiya Cemetery after he was forcibly prevented from entering al-Aqsa.
At dawn prayer, the occupation forces prevented young men, boys and foreign Muslims from entering Al-Aqsa and praying in it, and the young men performed the prayer on the road to the Yusufiya Cemetery, after they were forcibly removed from Al-Aqsa and its gates.
The forces continued to storm towns and neighborhoods in the city of Jerusalem, set up checkpoints and search young men.
