All the attempts by which citizen Anas Abu Saleh (43 years) sought to enter the city of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque throughout the month of Ramadan did not work until Friday, and despite choosing a date to avoid any confrontation with the Israeli occupation;

However, the forbidden happened, and the unthinkable happened.

In all its description, the city of Jerusalem lived yesterday, a "hot and fiery night," and the Palestinians who arrived at the Al-Aqsa Mosque faced real terror after hundreds of Israeli soldiers stormed the mosque and chased the worshipers inside it.

After Friday prayers, yesterday, Abu Saleh, who has a "special permit and vaccination against Corona," was able to enter the city of Jerusalem, as the occupation authorities stipulate, since the beginning of the month of Ramadan and the closures intensify and increase;

Starting with the events of Bab al-Amud, Sheikh Jarrah and others, and ending with the Al-Aqsa Mosque itself, as well as the events of the West Bank, which are more volatile.

Before Abu Saleh finished his Ramadan Iftar, the confrontation flared up. “We did not know where the sound bombs and rubber bullets fell on us.” The worshipers responded with takbeer and chanted, “With the soul and blood we sacrifice for you, O Aqsa.”

Palestinians perform prayers in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, amidst crowds of Israeli forces (Reuters)

Prayer of fear

In his account of Al-Jazeera Net, he says that before the events heated up and intensified, he and his friend took refuge inside the Al-Qibli prayer hall and took shelter in it, as did hundreds of worshipers.

Soldiers armed with all kinds of weapons spread heavily in the squares, and opened fire randomly, "the youths responded by throwing plastic water bottles and shoes at them."

“With great fear,” as he described, Abu Saleh prayed the dinner and some rak'ahs of Tarawih, during which the calls of the sheikhs and the imams of Al-Aqsa Mosque did not stop and over loudspeakers called “the occupation police not to shoot and pursue unarmed young men, and they also called the worshipers not to approach police gatherings so that they would not allow By provoking them, then the reward for prayers and night prayers is lost on them. Nevertheless, the police did not obey and continued their attacks. "

Abu Saleh continues his testimony, saying that the police continued to shoot, even while they were inside the mosque, "and we saw the Palestinian guards of Al-Aqsa Mosque preventing the development of confrontations between the youths and the Israeli police, who were on the alert."

Provocation and deliberate intent

Abu Saleh and hundreds of worshipers, who posted this on their social media pages, confirm that the occupation deliberately "provoked worshipers", and that began in the morning hours by spreading heavily in the markets and at the entrances to the mosque, obstructing the arrival of worshipers, and examining their identities and permits "and as soon as the confrontation began until They left their barracks outside, and broke into the mosque. "

About 20 phone calls Abu Saleh received from his family and friends trying to check on him. He says that the network was failing against his will, which made the situation worse. "The tension remained until he entered his home after midnight."

As for the young man, Jihad Abdel-Rahim, the scene was much hotter, as he did not have a permit to enter, which is why he resorted to “smuggling through the border openings between the two branches of the Green Line,” and enduring the suffering of traveling several kilometers on foot.

In his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, he says that all the evidence indicated a "deliberate intention" of the occupation to evacuate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the worshipers, and not to keep these crowds who broke all the barriers, forgot the Corona pandemic, and came to worship in these blessed days.

He added, "I saw dozens of soldiers in the Mughrabi Gate area only, lining up next to each other in a row exceeding 40 meters long, and preparing to storm and confront," and more than 60 injuries were reported among the worshipers during the first few moments only.

A Palestinian was wounded after the occupation forces fired grenades and rubber bullets at worshipers in Al-Aqsa (Anatolia)

The exit is the most dangerous and the sniping is direct

Exiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque was "more difficult and more dangerous," as Abd Al-Rahim described, and that the injury occurred inevitably, as the occupation flooded the place with bullets and the stampede between the worshipers was intense.

And he added, "Until the moment, I do not know how I left the mosque and reached the Bab al-Amoud area, which the police used to flood with wastewater over the bullets."

Despite this, Abdul Rahim, who was planning to stay overnight in the I'tikaaf and spend the Night of Power in Al-Aqsa, was able to document via his mobile phone several video clips and pictures of the events and the "frenzied attack" of the occupation police, which is what most of those who were in the Al-Aqsa Mosque did, and they began to publish it on their own pages. .

The statistics of the Palestine Red Crescent Society had indicated that more than 200 worshipers were wounded.

Among them, about 90 were wounded by stun grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets, and direct hits. These injuries were transferred to Jerusalem hospitals for treatment.

The places of injuries, most of which were in the head (face and eye), indicated that the occupation intentionally inflicted the largest number of casualties.

"To intimidate them and remove them from Al-Aqsa."

"in front of my eyes"

About this, Dr. Nasser Abdel-Gawad, a deputy in the former Legislative Council, who was present in Al-Aqsa, says that the occupation forced them out of the mosque for no reason, and "I saw the wounded fall in front of me, some of them in a dangerous condition."

He added on his Facebook account, "It is clear that the goal is to empty Al-Aqsa from the retreat. They drove us under the roar of bombs and bullets in the thousands to reach the tribe’s gate, and we were not able to return to the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

On the other hand, the families of the worshipers in Al-Aqsa did not calm down after these events, and like others, the family of the young Abdul Rahman Marshoud from Balata camp in Nablus lived in great fear for her son, who enters the Al-Aqsa Mosque "for the first time in his life, and is experiencing confrontations in reality."

His sister told Al-Jazeera Net that the means of communication with her brother and his friends were cut off, and that her father, who was in Saudi Arabia, was trying on his part, but did not succeed.