Alwaght-Extremist Zionists under protection of Israeli regime forces today stormed Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied al Quds (Jerusalem).
The director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, says over 200 settlers entered Al-Aqsa through the Moroccan Gate under heavy protection by Israeli regime forces.
Al-Kiswani said the Israeli Zionists started their tour at the Moroccan Gate, before moving on to the al-Qibli and al-Marwani mosques inside the compound, and then to the Bab al-Rahma area. Some of them attempted to perform religious rituals, but were prevented from doing so by guards.
Al-Kiswani said Israeli regime forces are responsible for the tension surrounding Al-Aqsa on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which coincided with the Israeli regime's holiday to mark the so-called “reunification” of Jerusalem and the commencement of the regime's illegal occupation of the Old City in the aftermath of the June 1967 six-day war.
The same day for Palestinians is remembered as the “Naksa”, meaning "setback," as commemoration of the displacement that accompanied the Israeli regime's occupation in 1967. As a result of the war, the Israeli regime took control from Jordan and Egypt over the majority Palestinian-populated West Bank and Gaza Strip, which remain illegally occupied and blockaded to this day, respectively.
Around 300,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes, as well as thousands of Syrians from the occupied Golan Heights.
Tensions have been running high following an imposition in August 2015 of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The mosque in occupied East Al-Quds is the third holiest site in Islam after the Holy Mosques in Mecca and Medina.
The al-Quds Intifada or uprising was also ignited to end the temporal and spatial division of al-Aqsa Mosque, the Israeli settlement construction, the Judaization schemes, and Israeli regimes brutal attacks on Palestinians.
Nearly 220 Palestinians, including children and women, have been killed by Israeli forces since the outbreak of the Intifada in the occupied Palestinian territories last October. Some 30 Zionists, mostly Israeli regime troops, have also lost their lives in Palestinian revenge attacks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently said that it was “human nature” for Palestinians to react violently to Israel’s decades-long military occupation, and urged change in Israel’s policies in the occupied territories.
