Occupied Jerusalem -

Under the title "Stop Crying and Start Building", 2,201 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque within 5 hours of this morning and afternoon, in commemoration of what they call the anniversary of the "destruction of the Temple" or "the ninth of August". The destruction of the first and second temples at the hands of the Babylonians and Romans, claiming that they were the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In preparation for this intrusion, the Temple groups have worked for weeks to mobilize settlers and entice the Israeli government and the police to secure the storming and its success, such as the demand of 16 members of the Israeli Knesset for an urgent session to discuss strengthening the measures taken during the storming, followed by a campaign of collecting signatures to demand a “safe” storming, which ended with understandings between representatives The Federation of Temple Groups and the Occupation Police.

Escorts of extremist Knesset member Itamar Ben Gvir raise the Israeli flag at the doorstep of Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Jazeera Net)

Role integration

These understandings included a set of steps to ensure the entry of the largest possible number of settlers to Al-Aqsa Mosque in the "memorial of the destruction of the Temple", and to draw lessons from the storming of the "Hebrew Jerusalem Day" at the end of last May.

Among these steps are the introduction of large groups with small differences in time, the stay of each group for half an hour inside the mosque, and the provision of umbrellas, leaflets, and cooling devices for the waiting queues near the Mughrabi Gate.

All of these understandings were fully realized today. The occupation police entered 37 groups from 7:30 in the morning until 12:30 in the afternoon, at an accelerated, simultaneous, non-consecutive pace. For example, in just half an hour, 4 groups of settlers were found inside Al-Aqsa Mosque at the same time. The groups ranged between 30 and 90 settlers, most of whom did not pass directly in front of the al-Qibli prayer hall, and made a full tour inside the mosque to reach Bab al-Silsilah in the western hallway.

Due to time constraints, the occupation police forced some groups to take what was known as the escape route, which is a short direct path from the Mughrabi Gate to the chain, not exceeding a few meters, while those who arrived in the eastern region near Bab al-Rahma performed public biblical rituals, including the morning prayer (Shaharit). The epic prostration and the blessings of the priests.

The arrest of the elderly Abu Jasser Al-Tamimi from inside Al-Aqsa Mosque this Sunday afternoon (Al-Jazeera Net)

Cursing the Prophet and raising the flag

Further violating the sanctity of the mosque, settlers raised the Israeli flag once inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, and twice on the doorstep and on its way to the al-Silsilah Gate, during which the settlers danced and sang in front of the worshipers who were prohibited from entering the mosque.

Photographers were not spared the occupation’s attacks, as its forces arrested photojournalist Ahmed Gharabli after beating him inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, and arrested photojournalist Mohammed Asho from Bab al-Silsila road after beating him and smashing photographic equipment.

This coincided with the arrest of 11 Palestinians - most of them were later released - and some of them handed orders to remove them from Al-Aqsa.

Settlers have been queuing since this morning at the Mughrabi Gate entrance, waiting for their turn to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque (Israeli sites)

Threatening to demolish the Dome of the Rock

The settlers deliberately provoked worshipers, raised victory signs, and publicly threatened to demolish the Dome of the Rock and expel Muslims from the mosque and build the Third Temple. other.

In contrast to the previous incursions, the number of photographers in Al-Aqsa Mosque decreased, and there was no effective audio confusion that has prevailed since last Ramadan.

This is due to Israeli proactive steps targeting the Almoravids, and it was keen to empty the mosque of them through a campaign of expulsion from the mosque and calls for investigations that affected dozens of activists in Jerusalem and the occupied interior.

The arrest of Agence France-Presse photographer Ahmed Grabli while covering the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Jazeera Net)

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This campaign was followed by security strictures at the gates of Al-Aqsa, during which worshipers were prevented from the “Night of the Night” seclusion inside it, and those under 50 years of age were prevented from performing the dawn prayer in the mosque, in addition to closing most of the doors of Al-Aqsa Wall in the early morning, and restricting entry through it.

In front of the completely and partially closed doors such as the tribes, the Qattan and the honor of the prophets, dozens of settlers gathered to perform rituals of dancing, singing and prayer, some of them even brought “mattresses” to sleep and stay overnight since midnight, to complement the settlers’ marches that started last night, Saturday, around the doors of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Jerusalem wall, and concentrated at the Al-Buraq Wall. The occupier to his south is what is known to them as the “grievances” prayer.

With the start of the incursions in the morning, the occupation police, intelligence agents and special forces deployed inside the courtyards of the mosque, filming and expelling everyone in the path of the intruders or arrogant in their faces, and this did not prevent some children and the elderly from raising the Palestinian flag, zooming in and waving shoes in front of the settlers.

Because of her chanting for Al-Aqsa in the face of the settlers, the occupation forces arrested Muntaha Amara from Umm al-Fahm in the occupied interior, and handed a decision to deport him for a week before she was released by the "Beit Eliyahu" police station near Bab al-Silsilah.

Amara told Al Jazeera Net that she witnessed a settler insulting the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and one of them spat in the face of a Palestinian woman, and collectively chanted "The people of Israel are alive," mocking the arrest of Palestinians.

More than two thousand settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in just 5 hours (Al-Jazeera Net)

Escalation of intrusions

Commenting on Sunday's storming, the head of the Jerusalem Anti-Judaization Committee, Nasser Hadmi, told Al Jazeera Net that the escalating violations came as a result of considering the Al-Aqsa Mosque an icon of the sovereignty of Jerusalem and a central Judaization project, insisting on facilitating its intrusion and desecration despite all circumstances, and exploiting every occasion to develop the incursions and establish them as a fait accompli. In light of the failure of the Arab regimes.

Hedmi added that the marginalization of falling stones in Al-Aqsa, and the planning to expand the vicinity of the Mughrabi Gate, come within an integrated scheme with the intrusions to increase the number of intruders, consolidate the temporal and spatial division, and implement freedom of worship at Al-Aqsa for all members of the Abrahamic religion, according to their expression.