Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa ahead of ‘flag march’

JERUSALEM, Palestine – Hundreds of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday. 

Türkiye’s Anadolu news agency reported that the settlers stormed into Al-Aqsa Mosque in groups from Al-Mughrabi Gate, accompanied by Israeli forces.

Among the settlers who entered the mosque, he said, was right-wing Israeli Rabbi Yehuda Glick.

The Jordanian-run Jerusalem Islamic Endowment Department said that Israeli Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf also joined the settlers.

This came at a time when Israeli settlers are preparing to mark the 56th anniversary of the occupation of East Jerusalem with a planned “flag march” through the Old City of East Jerusalem.

Earlier this week, Israeli extremist groups announced plans to mobilize nearly 5,000 Israeli settlers to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex on the day of the “flag march.”

The “flag march” is organized every year by Israeli settlers to celebrate the so-called “unification of Jerusalem,” an allusion to Israel’s occupation of the city in 1967.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam.

Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount because two Jewish temples were located there in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move that was never recognized by the international community.