Israeli police prevent hundreds of Palestinians from performing Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa

Jerusalem – Israeli police prevented hundreds of Palestinian youths from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem to perform Friday prayers.

According to the Anadolu Agency correspondent, police officers stationed at the outer gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque prevented hundreds of Palestinian youths from entering the mosque to perform Friday prayers.

The Israeli police forced the young men to return and beat some of them.

In turn, eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that the police assaulted a young man in the Bab al-Asbat area, causing him to be injured in the head.

They added that the Israeli police also assaulted a member of the Turkish television “TRT” in the same area without any reason.

The Israeli police did not explain the reasons for preventing the large number of young men from entering the mosque or the attacks that occurred, but it has been restricting the entry of young men into the mosque for several weeks, according to the Anadolu Agency correspondent.

For its part, the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem (affiliated with Jordan), which is responsible for managing the mosque’s affairs, indicated in a statement that 35,000 people were able to perform prayers in the mosque despite Israeli restrictions, and “after the end of Friday prayers, the worshipers performed the funeral prayer in absentia for the souls of the martyrs.”

This comes as the Israeli army and settlers escalate their attacks in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, which has led to the killing of 589 Palestinians, the injury of 5,400, and the arrest of 9,800, according to official Palestinian sources.

These attacks coincide with a war waged by Israel, with full American support, on Gaza since October 7, which has resulted in more than 129,000 Palestinian deaths and injuries, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of dozens of children, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the Strip.

Tel Aviv continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Anatolia