Over 150 Palestinians injured as Israeli police storm Al-Aqsa
JERUSALEM (AA) – More than 150 Palestinians were injured at dawn on Friday as the Israeli police stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that 152 Palestinians were injured during clashes with the Israeli police in the courtyards of the mosque.
The Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets, tear gas, or were beaten by the Israeli police which also fired a barrage of stun grenades.
In a statement, the Islamic Endowment Department in Jerusalem, said that one of the mosque’s guards was hit in the eye by a rubber-coated metal bullet.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli police pursued the worshipers and beat them in the mosque’s courtyards.
The Israeli police said in a statement that three of its members were slightly injured by stones thrown at them.
The police said noted in another statement that its forces removed the “rioters” in Al-Aqsa Mosque and arrested about 300 of them.
Thousands of worshipers were in the mosque performing the morning prayer.
In an earlier statement, the police said that they intervened after stones were thrown at the Western Wall, known to Muslims as Buraq Wall.
Condemnations
The Palestinian presidency condemned the Israeli forces’ storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and called for “immediate international intervention against the Israeli attacks.”
Storming the mosque “is a dangerous development and desecration of sanctities, and it is tantamount to declaring a war on our Palestinian people,” president’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement carried by the official WAFA news agency.
Fadi al-Hadmi, the Jerusalem Affairs Minister in the Palestinian Authority, called on the international community to take action to put an end to the “Israeli violations.”
Hamas condemned the Israeli “brutality,” with its political chief Ismail Haniyeh asserting that “the Palestinian people’s decision is to defend and protect Al-Aqsa Mosque at all costs.”
The Presidential Committee for Churches Affairs in Palestine also condemned the Israeli storming of the mosque and called for international intervention to stop Israel.
Meanwhile, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called for the withdrawal of the “occupation forces” from the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
He also called for allowing worshippers to freely perform prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
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