Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, for the second day in a row, as Palestinian worshippers were holding evening prayers.
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At least 20 000 worshippers were praying in the Qibli prayer hall during the holy month of Ramadan when heavily armed Israeli policemen stormed the hall, according to the WAFA news agency.
The Israeli military attacked the worshippers with stun grenades, tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets to forcibly expel them from the holy site.
This attack resulted in six injured (two of them taken to hospital) and several suffocated due to the accumulation of tear gas, reported the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Pro-Palestinians rally to show their support for Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and to denounce Israel’s ongoing attacks against the holy site in #Turkey‘s Istanbul city.#الأقصى_في_خطر #الاقصى_يستغيث #JerusalemFightsBack pic.twitter.com/mXCuDVordZ
— Wafa News Agency – English (@WAFANewsEnglish)
April 5, 2023
This is the second consecutive attack on the Al Aqsa Mosque in less than 24 hours. Earlier in the day, Israeli forces stormed the holy compound, injuring more than 200 Palestinians and arresting 400 others.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli onslaught, noting that such assaults “are proof of the ugly crime, the horrible event and the gravity of the attacks that the occupation forces carried out against Muslim worshippers at a holy site originally designated for Muslim prayer.”
The holy month of Ramadan is celebrated during the ninth month of the Hejira, or the Islamic calendar, which runs from March 22 to April 21 this year.
Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, condemned the Israeli attacks, stating that “it is the right of Palestinian Muslim worshippers to exercise their religious duties and prayers in this holy month of Ramadan and at any other time in this holy Al Aqsa Mosque.”