OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
Dozens of settlers defiled Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Monday under the protection of Israeli police forces.
Local sources reported that dozens of settlers stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and performed Talmudic rituals, led by the extremist and former Knesset member Yehuda Glick who gave Talmudic explanations about the alleged “Temple” to a group of settlers.
The occupation police imposed severe restrictions on the entry of Muslim worshippers into the Mosque, checked their IDs and detained some of them at its gates.
Eyewitnesses explained that the Israeli police turned the Old City of occupied Jerusalem into a military barracks, adding that police officers were deployed at close distances, especially at the gates of Al-Aqsa, and military procedures were tightened at the gates of the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs, settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque 21 times during March, which coincided with the fasting month of Ramadan.
During the first quarter of this year, about 13,664 settlers broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and carried out provocative tours and performed Talmudic rituals in different areas of it, in violation of the sanctity of the holy place, according to statistical data from the Jerusalem Governorate.
