More than 800 Israeli settlers stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque early on Thursday, ahead of the annual so-called “flag day” march by Orthodox Jews and Jewish settlers, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Ministers in the far-right government and Israeli lawmakers were among those who carried out the intrusion.
According to WAFA, US-born former Knesset member, Rabbi Yehuda Glick, led one settler group, which included far-right Israeli minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf.
Israeli occupation forces expel Palestinian worshippers from Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque to make way for Jewish settlers’ intrusion ahead of the provocative 'Flag March', on Thursday, May 18. pic.twitter.com/iE6ygksnDr
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 18, 2023
The move came hours before the planned so-called ‘Flag March’, which will see thousands of Jewish settlers provocatively parade through the Old City’s Muslim Quarter.
Tensions are high all over the occupied West Bank, the blockaded Gaza Strip, and in Israel, with the march seen as a threat to the ceasefire reached between the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Israel on Saturday, after at least 33 Palestinians were killed in a four-day Israeli bombardment of the besieged Gaza.
(WAFA, PC)
