On Eid al-Adha, Israeli forces storm al-Aqsa

 

 By Craig Melon           August 12, 2019

On Sunday, Israeli occupying forces stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, following the eid al-Adha prayer, in a rare incident on holidays.

A News agencies correspondents in Jerusalem reported injuries among worshippers after Israeli forces stormed al-Aqsa courtyards to disperse thousands of worshippers.

Muslim worshippers gathered at the mosque, to prevent settlers from storming al-Aqsa on the first day of Eid al-Adha, which coincides with the so-called anniversary of the so-called "destruction of the temple".

According to the Islamic Waqf department in Jerusalem, more than 100,000 worshippers performed Eid al-Adha prayers in al-Aqsa Mosque, in conjunction with repeated calls to stay inside, in anticipation of calls by settlers to storm it, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Eid al-Adha prayers were held an hour later than usual at the mosque, at the invitation of the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian home, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, after the occupation and its settlers threatened to storm it on the first day of Eid. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided earlier Sunday not to allow settlers to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque today after consultations with the police.

But video footage circulated by social media patrons showed a number of settlers gathering at one of the entrances to the Temple Mount, apparently an attempt to break into the mosque.

Settlement groups had called for the storming of Al-Aqsa today in memory of the so-called "destruction of the temple" that coincides today.

Jewish extremist groups are calling for intensified campaigns to storm the Temple Mount during August each year to mark the alleged anniversary, leading to clashes with Muslim worshippers.

The fact that extremist Jews stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque was one of the reasons for the outbreak of the Palestinian donation in October 2015, in which Israel killed more than 200 Palestinians.