Several Muslim worshipers were either injured or detained on Sunday morning when a large number of Israeli police forces stormed the Aqsa Mosque and its vicinity as groups of Jewish settlers started flocking to the Islamic holy site to mark the Passover festival.
The Red Crescent said its ambulance crews managed to provide medical assistance for 17 wounded Palestinians after police officers assaulted Muslim worshipers in the streets leading to the Aqsa Mosque adding that five were evacuated to hospitals.
Meanwhile the police forces prevented Red Crescent paramedics from entering the Aqsa Mosque to help other wounded citizens.
A reporter for the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) said that a large number of police forces raided the Aqsa Mosque and assaulted Muslim worshipers who were practicing I’tikaf (religious retreat) inside the compound.
The police forces reportedly fired volleys of tear gas and stun grenades at Muslim worshipers inside the Aqsa Mosque compound and the streets around it ahead of the settlers’ tours.
At least three young men have been arrested so far by the police during their morning raid on the Mosque.
Meanwhile dozens of extremist Jewish settlers entered the Mosque through its Maghariba Gate under police escort toured its courtyards and embarked on performing rituals in its eastern area.
Some Palestinian young men initially tried to block the path that leads to the Mosque’s eastern area to prevent settlers from gathering there and defiling it with their rituals according to the PIC reporter.
Police forces also laid siege to the Mosque’s prayer buildings cut off electricity to them and trampled on some holy Quran books after they stormed al-Masjid al-Qibli (the grey-domed building).
