Israeli Settlers Storm Al-Aqsa Mosque Under Police Protection

(MENAFN) Israeli settlers forcibly entered Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday under heavy police escort, drawing fierce condemnation from Palestinian officials who warned the provocative incursion forms part of a broader, systematic campaign to alter the holy site's identity and legal standing.

Omar Rajoub, director of the Media Department at the Jerusalem Governorate, told Anadolu that "raising the Israeli flag inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, along with performing provocative rituals, is part of a systematic and deliberate official Israeli policy led by the extremist occupation government."

"These practices aim to impose new realities by force in occupied East Jerusalem and undermine the historical and legal status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque," he added.

Rajoub warned that "occupiers' actions inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque are part of an ongoing colonial plan targeting the spatial and temporal division of the mosque, the Judaization of the city to obliterate its religious and historical identity, and the alteration of its legal, cultural, and demographic character."

He did not stop there, describing the police-escorted storming of the mosque as "a clear violation of international law" that "hurts the feelings of Palestinians and millions of believers around the world." He characterized the violations as "serious, repeated, and unacceptable" and held "the Israeli government fully responsible for this dangerous escalation."

Rajoub issued a direct appeal to the global community, calling on "the international community and all countries to assume their legal and moral responsibilities and take immediate action to stop these ongoing violations against the Palestinian people and the holy sites in occupied Jerusalem."

He further emphasized that "the entire 144-dunam area of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is a place of worship exclusively for Muslims."

The incursions are not new. Since 2003, Israeli police have unilaterally permitted settlers to enter the mosque compound during two daily windows — morning and afternoon — except on Fridays and Saturdays, a practice Palestinians say has steadily intensified under the current Israeli government.

Palestinians maintain that Israel is accelerating efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem and systematically erase its Arab and Islamic heritage. They regard East Jerusalem as the rightful capital of their future state — a position backed by international resolutions that recognize neither Israel's occupation of the city in 1967 nor its annexation in 1980.

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