Israel stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacked worshipers, journalists, and medics at the holy site in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday, following a week of continued raids and assaults by Israeli forces.
Following Fajr (dawn) prayers on Friday, dozens of armed Israeli police and special forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, sound grenades, and tear gas at worshipers.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, at least 31 people were transferred to hospital for their injuries, sustained through beatings, rubber bullets, and sound grenades. PRCS medics treated dozens of other injured worshipers at the scene, the group said.
A number of Palestinian youth responded to the armed forces by throwing stones and fireworks towards the soldiers.
Vice News Journalist Hind Hassan reported that Israeli forces shot rubber-coated steel bullets at a group of international and local journalists, despite the reporters identifying themselves as press.
During the morning raid, which lasted until around 9:00 am local time, a large tree in the compound caught on fire. Shortly after Palestinian firefighters put out the fire, Israeli forces retreated from the compound, leaving volunteers to clean up the array of rubber bullets, tear gas canisters, and stones that covered the ground.
Later in the afternoon, tens of thousands of worshippers traveled from across Palestine to attend Friday afternoon prayers at the holy site. Following the prayers, groups of Palestinians gathered and chanted “God is great”, along with national slogans while raising Palestinian flags.
Shortly after, Israeli forces used remote-controlled drones to drop dozens of tear gas canisters on crowds of worshipers, including women and young children. Video footage taken at the scene showed a number of worshipers being carried off in stretchers by medics.
Over the past eight days, Israel has stormed the holy site seven times, injuring dozens of worshipers and arresting hundreds of Palestinians in the process.
Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam, and a pillar of the Palestinian identity not only in Jerusalem, but across Palestine. While Palestinians frequent the site year-round, Ramadan sees an influx of visitors from other parts of occupied Palestinian territory.
Israel’s recent attacks on the compound, which have featured violent raids and attacks inside the Mosque’s ancient prayer halls, are viewed as provocative attempts by the state to limit Palestinian access to their holy sites, while simultaneously promoting a Jewish presence there.
Meanwhile, over the past week, Israel has facilitated the entrance of thousands of Jewish settlers for the Passover holiday. According to the Islamic Waqf that manages the site, in five days, around 3,670 settlers entered the al-Aqsa compound.
On Wednesday, hundreds of far-right Jewish settlers took part in the annual “flag march” in Jerusalem, despite a police order barring the march from taking place.
The march, which typically is an inflammatory display of Israeli nationalism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian racism, was one of the many provocations that led to the uprisings and deadly war on Gaza in May 2021.
Strikes on Gaza
Fears of another full on offensive on Gaza were heightened earlier this week, after a missile was fired from the besieged territory into Israel, following days of Israeli assaults on Al-Aqsa.
Israeli forces bombed a number of sites in the Gaza Strip, causing infrastructural damage. No one was killed in the airstrikes.
According to Middle East Eye, the Hamas movement in Gaza received 150 calls in 48 hours from “various parties” invested in preventing another all out war, similar to what was witnessed in May, when 256 Gazans were killed, including 66 children.
MEE added that the United States had also “indirectly approached the movement with the aim of maintaining calm on the Gaza front.”
Two more killed in West Bank
This week, three more Palestinians were killed in the West bank, succumbing to wounds they had sustained earlier by Israeli fire.
On Friday, 20-year-old Lutfi Ibrahim Labadi died from injuries he sustained during an Israeli raid on the Jenin-area town of al-Yamoun on Monday, when soldiers shot him in the head.
His death brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces this year to 49, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
On Monday, a Palestinian teenage girl, identified as 18-year-old Hanan Khaddour, succumbed to wounds she sustained earlier in the week, when she was shot by Israeli soldiers while during a raid on Jenin. According to Palestinian media, she was walking home from school when she was injured.
“On Wednesday, hundreds of far-right Jewish settlers took part in the annual “flag march” in Jerusalem, despite a police order barring the march from taking place.”
I read a piece recently, can’t remember who wrote it, saying that no, the Israeli government has no plans to take over Al Aqsa and replace it with a synagogue, nor does it intend to do a number of other crimes. But what good is that, when it allows Israeli Jews to do them and doesn’t stop them? And in what kind of democracy are court decisions — so long as they are directed against Jews — ignored? Rule of law? I don’t think so.
Then there are the drones. Palestinians can’t get war planes and bombers. Drones? they are cheap and available. Probably there are Palestinians with the knowhow to make them.
I’ve quoted this before — Hilaire Belloc, writing in 1898, re Britain fighting the Zulus:
Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not.
You can’t keep them, whoever they are, from getting the Maxim gun (an early machine gun) eventually. Or drones.