GCC denounces Israeli raids on worshipers, desecration of al-Aqsa in Ramadan

News Network

April 10, 2023

The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has strongly condemned the Israeli raids on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where the regime’s forces fired stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinian worshipers observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

GCC Secretary General Jassim Muhammed al-Budaiwi said in a statement that the incessant incursions by Israeli forces into al-Aqsa Mosque constitute an act of desecration and aggression against the first qibla of Muslims and Islam’s third holiest site.

He warned against the continued desecrations and attacks on holy sites in the occupied Palestinian territories, holding the Tel Aviv regime fully responsible for the dangerous repercussions of escalating the status quo and sowing the seeds of sedition and hatred.

Budaiwi also reiterated the GCC countries’ firm support for the Palestinian cause and holy sites in the occupied lands, Palestinians’ full sovereignty over all territories occupied since 1967, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.

The GCC secretary general finally called on the international community to adopt practical measures aimed at protecting Palestinian civilians and confronting attempts meant to alter the legal and demographic status of al-Quds.

Moreover, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani denounced the Israeli regime’s attempts to change the historical and legal status of al-Aqsa Mosque, imposing restrictions and assaults on Palestinian worshipers.

He slammed Israeli officials’ bids to normalize incursions and enforce temporal and spatial separation of the mosque as unacceptable.

Al Thani then urged the international community to shoulder its responsibilities toward protecting the rights of the Palestinian people.

Heavily armed Israeli forces stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Tuesday night before firing tear gas and stun grenades into the Qibli prayer hall, where hundreds of men, women, elderly people, and children were staying overnight to pray. Some eyewitnesses said rubber-coated steel bullets were also fired.

Israeli forces have wounded and rounded up hundreds of Palestinians during the attacks that have seen a rise since the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan. Illegal Israeli settlers have, meanwhile, been freely violating the compound under the Israeli military and police force’s protection.

Palestinian resistance movements in the nearby Gaza Strip have been warning the regime that it would have to bear the consequences of the flare-up that it has brought about in al-Quds and beyond.

Since the start of the holy month, the Israeli regime has imposed strict restrictions on the entry and exit of Palestinians to and from the gates of al-Aqsa Mosque. Amid heightened tensions with Palestinian worshipers, Israeli settlers also press ahead with their frequent incursions and provocative rituals at the holy site.

On Thursday, at least 30 rockets were reportedly launched from southern Lebanon into the Israeli-occupied territories in retaliation against the Israeli aggression against al-Aqsa.

Resistance fighters based in Gaza also fired several rockets toward the occupied territories. Palestinian sources said the regime’s Iron Dome failed to intercept most of the retaliatory rockets.

Following the rocket attack, Israeli warplanes hit targets inside Gaza and positions of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in Lebanon.

The Israeli regime has in recent months stepped up its atrocities, killing around 100 Palestinians this year alone.

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Israel killing Palestinian children in Gaza every day despite ceasefire: UNICEF

News Network

November 22,2025

The Israeli regime’s forces have killed two Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip every day since the ceasefire began in early October, UNICEF has warned.

The UN children’s agency said on Friday that Israeli forces continue to attack Palestinians in Gaza even though the agreement was meant to stop the killing.

“Since 11 October, while the ceasefire has been in effect, at least 67 children have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the Gaza Strip. Dozens more have been injured. That is an average of almost two children killed every day since the ceasefire took effect,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said in Geneva, reminding that each number in the statistics represents a child whose life had ended violently.

“These are not statistics,” he said. “Each child had a story, a family, and a future that was stolen from them.”

Data from Palestinian factions, human rights groups, and government bodies recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire deal went into effect on October 10 show that Israeli forces have carried out numerous attacks, each constituting a separate ceasefire violation.

UNICEF teams say they repeatedly continue to witness heart-wrenching scenes of fearful Palestinian children sleeping outdoors with amputated limbs, while others live as orphans in flooded, makeshift shelters.

“I saw this myself in August. There is no safe place for them. The world cannot normalize their suffering,” Pires said, lamenting that the UN could “do a lot more if the aid that is really needed was entering faster.”

The UNICEF spokesperson warned that with the advent of winter, the risks for hundreds of thousands of displaced children will increase.

He warned, “The stakes are incredibly high” for children as winter acts as a threat multiplier, where children have no heating, no insulation, and few blankets. He said respiratory infections rise.

“Too many children have already paid the highest price,” Pires said. “Too many are still paying it, even under a ceasefire. The world promised them it would stop and that we would protect them.”

“Now we must act like it,” the UNICEF spokesperson added.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, it has killed nearly 70,000 people in the territory, most of them women and children, and injured over 170,000 more, while reducing most of the structures in the enclave to rubble.

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