Early on Wednesday, Israeli police violently broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem and detained Palestinian worshippers.
According to the witnesses who described their horror, Israeli soldiers detained at least 400 Palestinians, who were still in jail at the time this report was filed.
The worshippers are being detained at a police station in Atarot, in occupied East Jerusalem.
Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that Israeli authorities beat worshippers with batons and guns and used excessive force, including tear gas and stun grenades, injuring them by suffocating them.
Also, the Palestinian Red Crescent recorded 12 injuries, including the transfer to the hospital of three victims.
In a statement, it further mentioned that Israeli authorities forbade its medical personnel from travelling to Al-Aqsa.
The raids persisted until Wednesday morning, when Israeli soldiers were once again observed physically assaulting, ejecting, and preventing Palestinians from worshipping inside the mosque premises before allowing Israelis inside under police cover.
“I was sitting on a chair reciting (Quran),” an elderly woman said while sitting outside the mosque, struggling to catch her breath, they hurled stun grenades, and one of them hit my chest,” she said as she began to cry.
Israeli police said in a statement that they were forced to enter the compound after “masked agitators” locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks, and stones.
“When the police entered, stones were thrown at them and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a large group of agitators,” the statement said, adding that a police officer was wounded in the leg.
In the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, tension has already been high for months. Since two significant religious holidays, the Jewish Passover and the Muslim Ramadan, coincide, there are worries that violence could increase.
