Al-Quds, MINA – A total of 1,895 Jewish settlers stormed the courtyards of Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem on Thursday morning under heavy protection from Israeli police, while several of them raised an Israeli flag opposite the Dome of the Rock amid continuing incursions during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the Palestinian Information Center reports.
The Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem said settlers broke into the Mosque compound in successive groups through the Magharibeh Gate, which has been controlled by Israeli authorities since 1967, as Israeli police officers and armed special forces were deployed to secure their incursion.
The Jerusalem Governorate said on Thursday that settlers raised an Israeli flag opposite the Dome of the Rock during the morning incursions, marking a further escalation in provocative displays and increasingly public Jewish rituals inside the Mosque compound.
Thursday’s incursions, on the sixth day of Sukkot, follow several days of large-scale settler raids on Aqsa, as groups advocating for the construction of the alleged Jewish temple at the site called for increased participation in the incursions while Israeli forces tightened restrictions on Palestinian worshipers seeking to enter the holy site.
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On Wednesday, 2,468 settlers stormed Aqsa and performed Talmudic rituals in its courtyards, while Israeli forces facilitated their incursion and restricted Palestinian worshipers’ access. According to published figures, 1,500 settlers forced their way into Aqsa on the second day of the holiday, followed by 1,731 on the third day and 1,462 on the fourth.
During these incursions, settlers performed group prayers and what is known as “epic prostration”, lying fully prostrate on the ground. They also brought plant offerings into the compound and engaged in clapping and singing.
The Jerusalem Governorate said on Wednesday that the number of settler incursions into Aqsa since the beginning of the year had reached 52,277, amid daily raids and an expansion of public Jewish rituals inside the Mosque compound.
The repeated violations show that the escalation during the Jewish holiday season extends beyond the growing number of settlers storming Aqsa. It also includes the expansion of religious rituals and provocative displays inside the compound, while Palestinian access to the Mosque is increasingly restricted.[]
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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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