KABUL (BNA) Israeli police have raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, with medics saying at least 152 Palestinians have been injured in the ensuing violence.
The Islamic endowment that runs the site said Israeli police entered in force before dawn on Friday, as thousands of worshippers were gathered at the mosque for early morning prayers.
Videos circulating online showed Palestinians throwing rocks and police firing tear gas and stun grenades. Others showed worshippers barricading themselves inside the mosque amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas
Israeli police forces said they arrested at least 300 Palestinians during the latest escalation. Palestinian sources put the number at 400. Aljeera reported
Israeli police said they entered the compound, the third holiest site in Islam and revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, to break up a “violent” crowd that remained at the end of the morning prayers.
They said they went in “to disperse and push back” the crowd after a group of Palestinians began throwing rocks towards the nearby Jewish prayer space of the Western Wall.
But Palestinian cameraman, Rami al-Khatib, who witnessed the raid, said: ”They [Israeli forces] brutally emptied the compound. They were attacking the mosque staff, normal people, elders, young people.
“There were many injured people, they fired rubber bullets inside Al-Aqsa mosque compound. They were beating everyone, even the paramedics they hit them,” said Khatib, who was among dozens of wounded Palestinians.
Reporting from Damascus Gate, Al Jazeera’s Najwan al-Samri said Israeli police forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound without pretext and assaulted worshippers near the Qibly prayer hall following the morning prayer.
She added that the escalation came as far-right Jewish groups called for raids of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Jewish Passover holiday, and the offering of animal sacrifices in its courtyards, which has not occurred since ancient times.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemns this brutal act committed by the occupiar israeli forces which killed at least 7 and injured 150 Palestinian civilians and calling on the inter community specially Islamic States to stand up against brutally of occupiers to protect human rights
Bakhtar News Agency
