Extremist Israeli settlers commit another incursion on al-Aqsa Mosque

Scores of Israeli settlers, under the heavy protection of the occupation troops, have once again broken into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds.

Palestine’s official WAFA news agency said the extremist settlers, divided into groups, entered the courtyards of the holy site through the Moroccan Gate, also known as the Mughrabi Gate, and made a provocative tour of the premises early on Sunday.

The Israeli regime had earlier deployed soldiers inside and around the mosque to secure the settlers’ incursion.

The Islamic Endowment Department in al-Quds was cited by Palestine’s Safa News Agency as saying that the settlers provocatively performed rituals and Talmudic prayers at Bab al-Rahma (Gate of Mercy) area, in violation of the site’s status quo.

The incident occurred as the Israeli forces prevented Palestinian worshipers from entering the mosque.

Israeli settler incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque and violence against Palestinians have been on the rise since the far-right extremist cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office last December.

Such mass settler break-ins almost always take place at the behest of Tel Aviv-backed temple groups and under the auspices of the Israeli police in al-Quds, leading to daily confrontations with Palestinians at the mosque, with many injured, arrested and murdered.

This is while non-Muslim worship at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound is prohibited according to an agreement between the occupying Israeli regime and the Jordanian government following the regime’s illegal seizure of East al-Quds in 1967.

ME