Israeli occupation escalates aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque…Palestinian resistance retaliates

Last night, the Israeli occupation launched a barbaric aggression against the Palestinian worshipers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, injuring and detaining hundreds of people. The Palestinian resistance responded by targeting the occupation settlements in the vicinity of the besieged Gaza Strip with rockets and by shooting at several occupation sites in the West Bank, affirming that the Palestinian people would not allow the occupation to implement its Judaization plans.

The occupation forces attacked Al-Aqsa Mosque in big numbers, breaking a several windows, cutting off power and firing bullets, sound bombs and poisonous gas at the worshipers inside to force them out of the mosque. The attack left more than 200 Palestinians injured and suffering fractures and suffocation. The occupation also detained more than 500 others, including injured people, while the gas bombs it fired set fire to part of the praying room, but the Palestinians managed to extinguish it.

The attack continued for hours, during which the occupying forces forced the protesters out of the mosque to secure the settlers’ raids on its courtyards, into which they began to storm at 7 a.m. through groups consisting of 50 settlers each.

In a statement, the Palestinian Red Crescent stated that the occupying forces had prevented its medical staff from entering the mosque to treat the injured, assaulting paramedics and ambulances and smashing the windows of a number of them, pointing out that at least 12 Palestinians were injured as a result of the occupying forces’ aggression against the Palestinians around Al-Aqsa and outside the walls of the  Old City .

The Palestinian resistance responded to the crime committed by the occupying forces in Al-Aqsa by targeting its settlements in the besieged Gaza Strip with rockets and by targeting several occupation sites in Nablus, Jenin, Ariha (Jericho) and Al-Khalil (Hebron) in the West Bank with heavy bursts of bullets.

The occupation media acknowledged the injury of an occupying force member near Al-Khalil, occupation aircraft and artillery bombed several positions south, central and east of the Strip and assaulted fishermen off the shore of the Al-Sudaniyya region in its north-west, causing material damage to Palestinian properties and homes, but without any injuries.

The resistance factions stressed that Israel’s aggression against Al-Aqsa is a major crime against which the Palestinian people would respond forcefully calling on the Palestinians to go to Al-Aqsa from the occupied Palestinian territories in 1948 and from all over the West Bank to take part in a picket and to confront settlers’ incursions, stressing that the bloodshed of worshippers who are subjected to the most brutal methods of oppression, terrorism and abuse confirms that the occupation’s plans to judaize Al-Aqsa will not pass.

The Palestinian Presidency confirmed that the escalation of the occupation’s aggression against the Al-Aqsa mosque and the protesters inside it represents a flagrant war against the Palestinian people and it threatens with the explosion of the situation in the region, stressing that Jerusalem will remain the capital of the State of Palestine and that Palestinians will continue to resist in defence of their land and national rights, and calling on the international community not to stand by and watch the fires sparked by the occupation in the Palestinian territories and to take serious action to stop its crimes.

In turn, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry indicated that the occupying authorities is making radical changes to the status quo in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Quds and its sanctities to implement its Judaization plans and resolve its internal crises at the expense of the Palestinian people’s rights.

For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf affirmed that the Israeli forces’ incursion into the mosque and their aggression against the people in it is a heinous crime and a blatant violation against the mosque as a place of worship for Muslims, in violation of international laws prohibiting the infringement of places of worship. The ministry noted that the Palestinians will continue to stand up for Al-Aqsa and will respond to the incursions of settlers and occupation forces and will not allow it to be judaized.

According to the Ministry of Al-Quds Affairs, the occupying forces’ barbaric aggression against the Al-Aqsa Mosque was a blatant disregard for Muslim sentiments around the world and an attempt to spark a full-scale war in the region and export the internal occupation crisis to Palestine, calling on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities by curbing this aggression, moving immediately and translating its words into action before it is too late.

The Higher Follow-up Committee in the occupied territories of 1948 noted that the escalation of the occupation’s attacks on Al-Aqsa, particularly during the month of Ramadan, is part of its attempts to Judaize it, stressing the need for a sit-in in Al-Aqsa to counter the incursions of settlers and thwart the occupation’s Judaization plans.

Amal Farhat