ShareJERUSALEM: Zionist police beat Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Wednesday, sparking a military exchange of rockets and air strikes in flaring violence as the Jewish Passover coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Armed police in riot gear stormed the mosque’s prayer hall before dawn, and were met with a barrage of rocks and fireworks, police video showed. More than 350 arrests were made in the raid, which drew threats from Palestinian groups and wide condemnation from Muslim countries.
Kuwait condemned and denounced the atrocious Zionist aggression against innocent worshipers in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, which led to the arrest of several Palestinian civilians, a foreign ministry statement said on Wednesday. The foreign ministry stressed Kuwait’s categorical rejection of such acts of aggression, which is a dangerous escalation and violation of international laws and concerned UN resolutions. The statement reiterated Kuwait’s solid stance, which called on the UN to intervene swiftly via the Security Council to take the necessary measures halting the vile and continuous Zionist attacks against sacred Islamic sites and innocent Palestinian worshipers.
One Palestinian witness, Abdel Karim Ikraiem, 74, charged that police, armed with batons, tear gas grenades and smoke bombs, burst into the mosque “by force” and “beat the women and men” worshipping there. A video widely circulated on social media showed police clubbing people on the floor inside the mosque. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had treated 37 people for injuries, including some after their release from custody. The Zionist entity’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir voiced his “complete backing” for police and praised their “swift and determined” actions.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called on West Bank Palestinians “to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa mosque to defend it”. Rockets were fired overnight from Gaza into the Zionist entity, without causing casualties, prompting retaliatory Zionist air strikes. The air strikes were followed by new rocket fire from Gaza, and at around 6:15 am (0415 GMT), Zionist jets carried out fresh strikes, AFP journalists reported. No casualties were reported in the first salvo of strikes. Islamic Jihad, another militant group based in Gaza, said the rockets were “a first warning message” following the Zionist “aggression”.
On Gaza’s streets, protesters burnt tyres and chanted: “We swear to defend and protect the Al-Aqsa mosque.” Calm had returned to the compound by late morning, when Zionist police escorted a small group of Jewish visitors through the site. An officer told an AFP journalist that police were only allowing those aged 60 and over to access the compound. Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein Al-Sheikh condemned the Zionist police action inside Al-Aqsa, saying “the level of brutality requires urgent Palestinian, Arab and international action”.
The Arab League denounced “the attack on the faithful” and called an emergency meeting for Wednesday afternoon. Jordan, which administers the mosque, condemned its “storming”, and called on Zionist forces to leave the compound immediately. Saudi Arabia expressed its “categorical rejection” of actions that contradict “international principles and norms in respect of religious sanctities”. Egypt, a frequent mediator in the conflict, said it “holds (the Zionist entity), the occupying power, responsible for this dangerous escalation”. – Agencies
