Diggings under al- Aqsa Mosque are illegal

Occupied al-Quds, (ST) – Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed that the excavation, diggings works and tunnels by the Israeli occupation authorities below the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City in occupied al-Quds( Jerusalem) are a crime according to international law and the Geneva Conventions, calling for the formation of an international fact-finding committee to determine its risks and hold those responsible accountable.

Palestinian Foreign Ministry in a statement today said that these excavations are part of the occupation’s plans to Judaize al-Quds and change the existing historical and legal reality, calling on the international community and its specialized organizations, particularly the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO) to compel the occupation authorities to stop them immediately.

The Foreign Ministry pointed out that the catastrophic results of the excavations appear in the winter through the major cracks in the homes of Palestinians and their shops, water leakage and flooding parts of them, as happened yesterday in the Bab Al-Silsilah neighborhood in the Old City of occupied al-Quds, noting that the occupation authorities are forcing the Palestinians to evacuate their homes under the pretext of collapses and cracks to implement Its Judaic settlement plans in the areas adjacent to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The occupation forces arrest 14 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank

In another development; the Israeli occupation forces arrested fourteen Palestinians in separate areas of the occupied West Bank.

The occupation forces stormed the city of Jericho and the towns of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem and Qabatiya, Anin, south of Jenin, Al-Dhahiriya in Hebron, and Beit Duqqu in occupied al-Quds, and arrested fourteen Palestinians, Ma’an news agency reported.

In the context of implementing its aggressive Judaization schemes, the occupation forces escalate the demolitions of Palestinian homes and properties in the occupied West Bank, especially in occupied al-Quds in light of the international community’s neglect of Palestinian demands for urgent intervention to stop the demolitions that lead to displacement of Palestinians, and the need to implement UN Resolution 2334 which calls for an immediate cessation of settlements.

Raghda Sawas