According to a Palestinian news agency, scores of Israeli settlers broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday.
91 Israelis guarded by Israeli police broke into the contentious location, according to the Islamic Endowment Department in Jerusalem.
According to witnesses, some of the immigrants conducted religious rites upon their arrival to the mosque’s eastern side. The ritual was not stopped by Israeli authorities, who normally restrict Jews from worshipping in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Every day in the morning and afternoon, Israeli settlers flood the Al-Aqsa complex through the Al-Mughrabi Gate, southwest of the mosque.
Allowing settlers to perform religious ceremonies at the site has been repeatedly cautioned by the Islamic Endowment Department in Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared on July 18 that the freedom of prayer for Jews and Muslims inside the Al-Aqsa compound “must be protected,” prompting Palestinian and Arab outrage.
According to a local official and eyewitnesses, Israeli police apprehended two Palestinians and two women in the Al-Aqsa neighborhood.
An official with the Islamic Endowment Department, who did not want to be identified, told Anadolu Agency that the two men were held at one of the Al-Aqsa gates, without specifying why they were detained.
Witnesses stated two women were also arrested in the same location after being beaten by police.
Despite repeated condemnations from the Islamic Endowment Department, Israeli police began authorizing settlement incursions in 2003.
For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third holiest place. The location is known as the Temple Mount by Jews, who say it was formerly home to two Jewish temples.
During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel conquered East Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa. In 1980, it annexed the whole city, a move that was never acknowledged by the international world.
