Hundreds of Jewish settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem again on Tuesday amid Israeli forces’ security measures against Palestinians.
According to local media, the settlers, escorted by Israeli forces, stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Al-Mugharbah Gate area on the western side of the holy mosque. Earlier on Monday, some 275 Israeli settlers entered the mosque compound in response to calls by some groups to intensify incursions into the mosque during Ramadan.
Despite Israeli restrictions on access to Islam’s third most important holy shrine, some 35,000 Palestinians performed special tarawih prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque on Monday, the second night of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israel took over East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, claiming it once housed two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Tensions in the West Bank have risen sharply since Israel launched a retaliatory offensive against the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on 7 October.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv in an interim ruling in January to halt “acts of genocide” and take steps to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Gaza.
