The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) and Elad society are carrying out new underground diggings beneath the eastern side of the Aqsa Mosque according to local sources.
According to Jerusalem affairs researcher Fakhri Abu Diyab excavations are taking place beneath the area from Ein al-Adhra to Bab al-Rahma and near the eastern wall of the Aqsa Mosque.
This new underground activity is being carried out secretly but there are signs proving it is taking place such as digging equipment and bags filled with dirt and rocks that were extracted from underground as well as the tight security cordon around the area.
Abu Diyab asserted that workers from Elad (a settler group aiming to Judaize east Jerusalem) were seen working in the digging area.
He expressed his belief that the IOA is working on building new tunnels to connect them with those tunnels extending from the western area to the neighborhoods of Wadi Hilweh Bab al-Maghariba Ein Silwan in the south of the Aqsa Mosque and its western wall and with the network of tunnels underneath Silwan district and Wadi Hilweh neighborhood.
