Egypt slams Israeli settlers’ repeated violations against Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

Cairo (QNN)- The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed on Monday Israeli settlers’ repeated and growing violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Egyptian Ministy condemned the continuation of such “violations, which are committed under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces, including the imposition of restrictions on the movement of Palestinian worshipers and on the performance of their religious rituals, and the continuous attempts to change the legal and historical status of Jerusalem.”

The ministry said such actions are a “flagrant violation of international law.”

The ministry added that this “dangerous escalation undermines the chances of achieving a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue and achieving the two-state solution.”

It also warned of the “extreme gravity of the continuation of provocative practices in the vicinity of the Islamic holy sites in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as they increase the state of tension, fuel violence, and put more obstacles in the way of efforts to resume the peace process.”

For two consecutive days, starting from Monday, hundreds of colonial Israeli settlers, backed by well-armed Israeli soldiers, broke into Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound to mark the so-called the Jewish New Year. Strict restrictions were imposed by the occupation forces to facilitate the settlers’ incursions.

The Israeli forces barred Palestinians under the age of 40 from entering the Al-Aqsa, checking their ID cards and erecting barriers in different areas of the Old City. They had also barricaded several gates leading to Al-Aqsa mosque, including the Bab Al-Amud Gate, the Via Dolorosa route and other entry points to Al-Aqsa.

The forces had deployed a surveillance plane in the sky of the occupied city to monitor the movement of people in the city who had climbed on top of Al-Qibli mosque inside the Al-Aqsa compound.

According to Jerusalem’s Islamic Waqf, 504 Israeli settlers on Monday and 446 settlers on Tuesday broke into the site in groups, before leaving it through the Bab al-Silsila Gate, while Israeli forces barred Palestinian entry to the site.

During and before the break-ins, Waqf said that Israeli forces had savagely assaulted Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa, arrested Palestinians and drove some of them out, fired tear gas canisters inside the site and blockaded the worshipers inside prayer halls in an attempt to empty the holy site of its worshipers to secure the entry of the Israeli colonial settlers.

Some settlers were filmed blowing the shofar, an ancient musical horn, outside the gates of Al-Aqsa and in Bab Al-Rahmah cemetery.

Israeli forces also attacked and brutally assaulted journalists and press members who were documenting their violations and denied the access of medical teams to the site to treat people.

Israeli settlers are expected to break into Al-Aqsa in the upcoming weeks in great numbers as they mark the Jewish New Year this week (from September 25 to 27), Yom Kippur on October 5 and Sukkot between 10 and 17 October.