Israeli settlers storm al-Aqsa Mosque amid intensified West Bank raids
Israeli settlers have stormed the compound of al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, in Occupied al-Quds, under protection from the regime forces amid intensified raids in the occupied West Bank.
On Monday, the settlers defiled al-Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards twice and performed provocative dances and Talmudic rituals.
In the meantime, the Israeli troops imposed movement restrictions on Muslim worshipers and prevented many of them from entering the holy site.
For decades, a delicate status quo has governed worship and visits to the site, permitting only Muslims to pray in its courtyards and prayer halls.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has decried the settler incursions as attempts to Judaize al-Aqsa Mosque.
Also on Monday, Israeli forces escalated their aggression on Tulkarem and its two refugee camps, as further reinforcements were deployed to the region.
The regime’s troops stormed a number of homes near Tulkarem camp. Meanwhile, a 70-year-old Palestinian man, identified as Raed Yunis, sustained injuries as Israeli forces physically assaulted him when he tried to check his home, which they had earlier set on fire.
In the north of the city, Israeli forces were deployed in the vicinity of the Shuweikeh roundabout, using live fire and sound bombs and arresting a number of Palestinians.
The media committee in Tulkarem reported that the Israeli forces raised the regime’s flag over a home in Nur Shams camp, amid an ongoing tight siege on the camp.
Since a ceasefire in Gaza was announced in January, Israel has intensified its attacks in Tulkarem and other parts of the West Bank.
Last month, the regime broke the ceasefire, and it proceeded with its large-scale military raids in the West Bank.
Since January, Israeli forces have killed 13 Palestinians, including two women and a child, and injured dozens others in Tulkarem and its camps. Some 396 homes were completely destroyed and 2,573 others were partially demolished in the camps of Nur Shams and Tulkarem.
That’s while more than 956 Palestinians have been killed and about 7,000 others injured since Israel has launched an aggression on the West Bank and East al-Quds in October 2023, in conjunction with the regime’s genocidal war on Gaza. Some 16,400 others were arrested.
Israel launched the war of genocide in Gaza and imposed a complete siege on the strip on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in retaliation for Israel’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
In total, 52,314 Palestinians have been killed and 117,792 others injured since October 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
