Israeli forces storm Aqsa Mosque for third consecutive day

June 28, 2016

Al-Quds, Jun 28: Israeli military forces have once again raided the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds (Jerusalem) and engaged in scuffles with a group of Palestinians there.

On Tuesday morning, Israeli forces stormed the mosque for a third consecutive day as a large number of Palestinian worshippers were performing prayers at Islam’s third-holiest site during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, al-Aqsa television network reported.

Violence broke out when Israeli troopers attacked Palestinians, and fired rubber-coated steel bullets as well as stun grenades to disperse the crowd. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The development came only a day after Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, the director of al-Aqsa Mosque, said at least 35 Palestinian sustained injuries on Monday when nearly 250 Israeli soldiers, escorting a crowd of illegal settlers, stormed the holy site and clashed with worshipers.

He added that Israeli forces chased Palestinian worshippers and beat them with batons, shut the doors of the al-Qibli Chapel, and fired rubber bullets as well as tear gas canisters to scatter the people who were protesting the desecration of the mosque.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have prevented settlers and non-Muslims from entering the al-Aqsa Mosque until the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Scores of Israeli security forces have reportedly encircled the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and are closely monitoring the entry of Palestinians into and their departure from the holy site.

The occupied Palestinian territories have been the scene of heightened tensions since August 2015, when Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds.

Palestinians are angry at increasing violence by Israeli settlers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, saying the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the sacred site.

Nearly 220 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of last October.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Israel orders 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah ahead of ground invasion

News Network

May 6,2024

The Israeli regime is forcibly evacuating Palestinians from the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid the prospect of its widely-discouraged ground invasion.

“The estimate is around 100,000 people,” an Israeli military spokesman told journalists on Monday when asked how many people were being evacuated.

International organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly warned the regime against invading the city, citing its hosting around 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ground assault on Rafah would “put the final nail in the coffin” for humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said, “Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death,” with an official saying “It could be a slaughter of civilians.”

Multiple aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have likewise warned against a Rafah offensive.

The NRC said such an invasion “would profoundly exacerbate the already catastrophic levels of need and the humanitarian emergency for millions of civilians with nowhere left to go.”

The official alleged Hamas had killed three Israeli forces on Sunday, attacking them from Rafah.

The evacuation order came a sat least 22 people lost their lives in the regime’s airstrikes killed in Rafah earlier on Monday.

Rafah’s evacuation “is part of our plans to dismantle Hamas,” the Israeli spokesman added, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement that has been defending Gaza in the face of the war.

The Palestinians have fled there from the ravages of a war that the regime began waging against Gaza on October 7, following a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

At least 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 78,018 others injured so far during the brutal military onslaught.

On Friday, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah was a key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at a truce agreement.

The Israeli premier has said the regime would go ahead with invading the city “with or without” a truce.

Hamas has, however, asserted that the regime has failed to defeat the resistance during the war.

Comments