More than 200 illegal Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection
Settlers perform Talmudic rituals in courtyard, official Wafa news agency says
Al-Aqsa Mosque
RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL
More than 200 illegal Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem under the protection of Israeli police, authorities said Wednesday.
Anonymous sources from the Islamic Endowment Department said 217 illegal Israeli settlers raided the holy site.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a local rights group, said 124 settlers stormed the mosque in the morning, and 93 broke into the site later in the day.
The settlers performed Talmudic rituals within the courtyards under the protection of Israeli forces, the Wafa news agency in Palestine reported.
The settler raid came after the reopening of the mosque following 12 days of it being closed due to a state of emergency that Israel implemented during its attacks on Iran.
Israel began allowing Israeli settlers to enter the Al-Aqsa compound in 2003, despite objections from the Islamic Endowment Department.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
