Pictures| For over week, Israeli forces demolish, sabotage Al-Yusufiya Cemetery in Jerusalem

Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Israeli occupation forces since the early morning hours of Monday have continued demolishing and sabotaging the Al-Yusufiya Cemetery, one of the most important and prominent Islamic cemeteries in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

Local sources said that the forces earlier today stormed the site again and continued the demolishing and sabotaging of the Al-Yusufiya Cemetery, a step that came after the Israeli court ordered the Israeli municipality in occupied Jerusalem to resume the demolishing works of the land to establish a biblical national park.

The forces last week installed a metal gate at one of the entrances of the Cemetery and surveillance cameras, as it has been under Israeli demolition for over five consecutive days.

Israeli crews have been bulldozing the graves, and the remains of dead bodies had appeared during Israeli diggings, stirring rage among Palestinians.

The forces also attacked last week several Palestinians in the vicinity of the Al-Yusufiya Cemetery while protesting against Israel’s demolishing and sabotaging of the Cemetery.

The forces were seen firing sound bombs directly towards the protesters, injuring at least three.

The Israeli forces also prevented dozens of Palestinians from entering the Cemetery and reaching their sons’ graves, forcing others to get out of the Cemetery after attacking them.

Yusufiya Cemetery is located north of the al-Rahma Gate cemetery, adjacent to the eastern wall of the occupied city of Jerusalem.

It has been targeted for years by Israeli excavations which reached archaeological structures close to the doorstep of the al-Asbat Gate.

The occupation municipality has been working to surround the Cemetery with Judaizing projects, paths and Talmudic parks along the eastern wall of Jerusalem and adjacent to the cemetery to hide the features of the original paths and historical sites surrounding the cemetery.

In this context, in December 202, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished the wall of the cemetery adjacent to the al-Asbat Gate and removed its archaeological stairs in addition to the stairs leading to the martyrs’ cemetery.

The Cemetery houses the graves of Palestinian, Jordanian and Iraqi martyrs who were killed by Israeli militias during the 1967 war in Palestine.

In 2014, the occupation authorities prevented the burial in the cemetery’s northern area and removed 20 graves of Jordanian soldiers who were martyred in 1967 in what is known as the Cemetery of the Martyrs and the Monument of the Unknown Soldier.