JERUSALEM: Shock and outrage grow as video of Israel’s armed police beating Palestinian worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan goes viral. Israeli authorities claim they were trying to detain “law-breaking juveniles” who had “barricaded themselves” inside the compound.
Global criticism and concern mounted Wednesday after Israeli police attacked Palestinians inside Islam’s third-holiest site, sparking a military exchange of rockets and air strikes, with fears of further escalation.
Two more rockets were fired late Wednesday from the Israel-blockaded Gaza Strip towards Israel, the army and witnesses said, and fresh altercations broke out at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during the Jewish Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Armed police in riot gear stormed the prayer hall of Al-Aqsa mosque before dawn Wednesday, aiming to dislodge “law-breaking youths and masked agitators” they said had barricaded themselves inside. A barrage of rocks and fireworks met the officers, police video showed, and more than 400 people were arrested.
On Thursday, Israeli police raided the compound for a second consecutive night, firing stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at worshippers, according to Al Jazeera. Videos from the site show armed troops forcibly emptying the mosque from worshippers who had gathered there for Ramadan prayers.
Israeli occupation forces brutally assault protesters while taking part in a rally in Haifa to denounce the latest Israeli assault on Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque. pic.twitter.com/W4MwvcGz5o
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) April 5, 2023
UN chief ‘shocked and appalled’
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “shocked and appalled” by images he saw of Israeli security forces beating people at the mosque, particularly because it came at a time holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims that should be a period of peace, his spokesman said.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States said he was “extremely concerned by the continuing violence and we urge all sides to avoid further escalation”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country and Israel have been rebuilding ties, said: “Trampling on the Al-Aqsa mosque is our red line.”
Later on Wednesday, Israeli police said “dozens of law-breaking juveniles, some of them masked, threw fireworks and stones” into the mosque and tried again to barricade themselves in as worshippers gathered for evening prayers.
Israeli occupation troops brutally attack Palestinians at Bab Al-Silsila in occupied Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/Z3YYTIgWqZ
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) April 5, 2023
Officers thwarted and dispersed the “violent rioters” and allowed worshippers to leave, police said. An AFP journalist saw Israeli security forces blocking access routes to the mosque.
Israel blames ‘violent rioters’
A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Israel was “creating an atmosphere of escalation, instability and tension”, saying police stormed the mosque and attacked worshippers on Wednesday evening.
Violence in occupied Palestine has intensified since the new government of veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took power in December, a coalition with the extreme right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.
74-year-old Palestinian witness Abdel Karim Ikraiem said Israeli police armed with batons, tear gas grenades and smoke bombs burst into the mosque “by force” and “beat the women and men” worshipping there early Wednesday.
One video widely circulated on social media showed police clubbing people on the floor inside the mosque. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had treated 37 people, including some after their release from custody.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir voiced “complete backing” for police and their “swift and determined” actions.
Palestinian group Hamas, which rules Gaza, called on West Bank Palestinians “to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa mosque to defend it”. The mosque in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem is built on top of what Jews call the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. It has been a frequent flashpoint, and similar raids there in May 2021 sparked the latest Gaza war that raged for 11 days.
Retaliation from Gaza
On Gaza’s streets, protesters burned tyres and swore “to defend and protect the Al-Aqsa mosque”. Within hours of the first clashes at Al-Aqsa mosque, at least nine rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel, the army said, adding that “in response” warplanes struck two suspected Hamas weapons-manufacturing sites.
The air strikes were followed by new rocket fire from Gaza and further Israeli strikes, AFP journalists reported.
Later Wednesday, witnesses reported two more rockets fired from northern Gaza. Israel said “one launch failed” and fell in Gaza while the other landed “in the area of the security fence” boundary. Islamic Jihad, another Gaza-based group, called the rockets “a first warning message”.
Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh condemned the Israeli police action inside Al-Aqsa, saying “the level of brutality requires urgent Palestinian, Arab and international action”.
Germany urged both sides “to do everything possible to calm the situation”.
International outrage
The Arab League denounced “the attack on the faithful” and called an emergency meeting.
British MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy: “Our Government should be pushing to hold Israel accountable for escalating violence towards Palestinians in the occupied territories” pic.twitter.com/KXAWYzj17Y
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) April 5, 2023
Jordan, which administers the mosque, condemned its “storming”, and called on Israeli forces to leave the compound immediately.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Morocco, which established ties with Israel in 2020 as part of US-brokered accords, also strongly condemned the police action. A UAE foreign ministry statement rejected all practices that “threaten to further exacerbate escalation”. It also criticised worshippers who “barricade themselves”.
Morocco’s foreign ministry stressed the need “to avoid measures and violations likely to damage chances of peace in the region”.
US Congresswoman Cori Bush has slammed the latest Israeli assault on Palestinian worshippers, saying: “It’s time we stop funding Israeli apartheid.” pic.twitter.com/NhUBuTgpBM
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) April 5, 2023
The Gulf emirate of Qatar, which does not recognise Israel, warned that Israeli practices “will have serious repercussions on security and stability in the region, and will undermine efforts to revive the stalled peace process, if the international community does not hasten to take action”.
So far this year, the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 91 Palestinians, 15 Israelis and one Ukrainian, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.
