The Israeli police stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque tonight and attacked the worshipers, and the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that dozens of injuries occurred during confrontations with the occupation forces inside the Al-Aqsa courtyards, in light of a state of tension in the occupied city due to the tightening of the occupation’s restrictions and efforts to expel Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
The director of the Al-Jazeera office in Ramallah, Walid Al-Omari, stated that large forces of the occupation police stormed the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and fired sound and tear gas canisters at the worshipers and arrested a number of them. The Palestinian Red Crescent stated that 53 people were injured as a result of the attack by the Israeli forces.
The confrontations between the occupation forces and the worshipers began at Bab al-Silsila, which is one of the gates of the Temple Mount, and the matter moved to the courtyards of the mosque after the occupation forces stormed them, while large crowds of worshipers tried to remove those forces from the place.
# Urgent The occupation forces target worshipers with bombs and bullets, during the violent confrontations taking place inside the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.
pic.twitter.com/02FOkkPyzO
- Shehab News Agency (@hehabAgency) May 7, 2021
Great reinforcements
And the occupation forces pushed large reinforcements to the Haram area and to the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.
And Anadolu Agency reported that the occupation forces closed several doors to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, including the Damascus Gate, according to eyewitnesses.
The French Press Agency reported that dozens of bullets were heard inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where the worshipers were meeting on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan, and the agency's correspondent said that smoke rose from the place.
And participated in the last Friday prayers for the month of Ramadan, about 70 thousand people, and the worshipers came from different regions, including the areas of the Palestinians in the interior.
The occupation’s assault on the Temple Mount and the worshipers comes in light of the increasing tension in the occupied city since the beginning of the month of Ramadan, as a result of the occupation forces ’tightening restrictions imposed on Jerusalemites in their entry and exit to the Old City and the Temple Mount, as well as Sheikh Jarrah’s file, and the occupation’s efforts to expel Palestinian families from their homes. In that Jerusalem neighborhood for the benefit of settlers.
Pause and marches
Earlier, thousands of Palestinians organized a stand and marches on Friday in the squares of Al-Aqsa Mosque after Friday prayers, and the demonstrators chanted slogans praising the Al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas) and its leader, Muhammad Al-Deif.
The occupation authorities had deployed thousands of police and what are known as border guards in Jerusalem, the vicinity of the Old City, and the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque in preparation for the last Friday in the month of Ramadan.
The occupation police closed the streets surrounding the Old City and prevented cars from entering, while the flow of Palestinians began to Al-Aqsa Mosque from various parts of Jerusalem and from within the Green Line.