OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The Europeans for Jerusalem Foundation has warned about the accelerating attempts by the Israeli government to impose a new de facto situation at Al-Aqsa Mosque, aiming to temporally and spatially divide it and pave the way for the establishment of a Jewish synagogue inside the holy Islamic site.
This warning was included in the organization’s monthly report, which monitors violations by the Israeli occupation forces and settlers in the holy city.
The report noted that the Israeli army committed 715 violations, distributed across 16 forms of human rights abuses during August 2024. The most common violations included incursions and raids, accounting for 53.4%, followed by arrests at 10.9%.
The report documented 27 incidents of shooting and direct assaults by the Israeli occupation forces in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem. This resulted in the death of a young man, Mohammad Hamash, on August 6 after carrying out a stabbing attack, and a child, Shadi Sheha, on August 13 in the town of Anata. Four others were injured, and dozens suffered from cases of suffocation, in addition to at least 16 citizens being beaten and mistreated.
According to the report, the occupation forces carried out 382 incursions into towns and neighborhoods of Jerusalem, during which they arrested 78 citizens, including 7 children and 5 women, summoned 7 others, and imposed house arrest on 3 citizens.
The report also documented 44 demolition and destruction operations affecting 20 homes, six of which the owners were forced to demolish themselves, resulting in the displacement of 84 citizens and the destruction of 24 facilities, along with 47 notifications and demolition orders against other homes and facilities.
It also recorded the settlers’ seizure of the Shihada family’s home, which contains five residential apartments in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the protection of the occupation forces.
During the past month of August, four decisions and measures were issued as part of the ongoing efforts to promote settlement and Judaization in occupied Jerusalem. These included the establishment of a settlement outpost in Khan al-Ahmar, the opening of a park for settlers in the French Hill area northeast of Al-Aqsa Mosque, covering an area of 63 dunums, named “Horeisha,” and a large electric bus station in the colonial settlement neighborhood of Ramot in northern occupied Jerusalem, as well as the “Yif’al Yadin” tunnels connecting the French Hill settlement and Route 1 with Issawiya and the Hizma checkpoint.
The report documented 15 assaults carried out by settlers, which included attacks on citizens and their properties, as well as various acts of violence.
It noted that the occupation forces continue to impose a suffocating blockade on Palestinian towns and neighborhoods in Jerusalem, restricting the movement of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They also continue their assaults on public freedoms and hinder the work of journalistic crews in the occupied city.
The report highlighted the approval of the occupation government for the proposal by the Israeli Minister of Communications to ban the Al-Mayadeen channel, confiscate its equipment, and block its websites on August 11. Following this decision, the Minister of Communications issued orders to confiscate the channel’s equipment and block its affiliated websites.
The occupation authority renewed the travel ban against the two female activists of Al-Aqsa, Khadija Khuwais and Hanadi Halwani, who have been expelled from the site.
The occupation also blocked two events in Jerusalem. The first was a screening of Palestinian films about Gaza at the Yabous Cultural Center, where occupation forces stormed the center and prohibited the screening.
Additionally, the occupation prevented a ceremony to honor students from the Tawjihi (secondary school) exams at the Al-Safsaf Hall in the Wadi al-Homs neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem, organized by the “Wafa for Women and Children” Association. They issued warnings and threats of storming the hall if the event took place.
The occupation intelligence summoned journalists Ahmad Jalajel and Roz Al-Zaru for interrogation, and later released them after about two hours of questioning on the condition that they be banned from the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque for a week, subject to extension.
