Around 1,300 Israeli occupiers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem

Around 1,300 Israeli occupiers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday morning as they marked the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, commemorating what they call the “destruction of the Temple,” according to the Jerusalem Governorate.

The governorate said on Facebook that Israeli police allowed the number of occupiers entering the compound in each group to increase to around 150.

Israeli forces imposed tight restrictions at the mosque’s gates and around Jerusalem’s Old City, deploying heavily across its courtyards and preventing Palestinian worshippers from entering, it added.

Only a very limited number of Palestinians managed to reach the mosque for dawn prayers before Israeli forces assaulted several worshippers and other residents, the statement said.

The governorate said occupiers “performed Talmudic rituals during the incursions, including wearing tefillin, carrying out full prostrations in the eastern section of the compound and chanting loudly.”

It added that “extremist groups advocating the construction of a Jewish temple at the site were mobilizing supporters in an effort to bring 5,000 occupiers into the compound” during Thursday’s incursions.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.