Turkey slams Israeli settlers’ recent raids on Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

Istanbul (QNN)- The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned on Monday Israeli settlers’ recent raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, while being backed by Israeli occupation forces, saying such practices “violate the sanctity and the status based on international law” for the mosque.

In a statement issued on Monday evening, the Turkish ministry said, “We condemn and find it unacceptable that radical Israeli groups raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem under the protection of Israeli security forces.”

“We call on Israeli authorities to immediately take necessary measures to restrain these practices, which violate the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and its status based on the international law, and to prevent escalation of the tension,” it added.

Press Release Regarding the Raids of Radical Israeli Groups on Al-Aqsa Mosque https://t.co/7ndzbqvh8s pic.twitter.com/jvnFFYNfZI

— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) September 26, 2022

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.