Hundreds of settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque news

Today, Sunday, the fourth day of the Jewish Sukkot Festival, hundreds of settlers participated in storming Al-Aqsa Mosque, performing Talmudic prayers and blowing the trumpet inside.

The Islamic Endowments Department, which is responsible for managing the mosque, said that 1,390 settlers, divided into 22 groups, stormed the mosque until 11:30 local time.

The raids took place as a result of the massive deployment of occupation forces in the mosque, at its doors, on the roads leading to it and in various places in Jerusalem, according to what was confirmed by the Wadi Hilweh Human Rights Information Center in the city.

According to the center, settlers blew the trumpet and performed Talmudic prayers in the mosque, carried plant offerings, including palm fronds, and performed rituals at its doors, especially Bab al-Qattanin and al-Ghazali Square in Bab al-Asbat.

He pointed out, “Closing the Lions’ Gate road and preventing the passage of vehicles on the fourth day of the Jewish Throne Day to ensure the settlers’ access to the Buraq Wall, the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Press coverage: Minister of National Security in the occupation government, Ben Gvir, accompanied by hundreds of settlers, storms the Buraq Wall in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque. pic.twitter.com/eJ2cpp5UBF

– Quds News Network (@qudsn) October 20, 2024

For its part, the Jerusalem Governorate said in data published on Sunday that 52,710 people stormed the mosque since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 until today.

Since the start of Sukkot, which lasts for a week, the city of Jerusalem has witnessed severe closures of streets, roads and neighborhoods in Jerusalem, and a heavy deployment of occupation forces, in the wake of campaigns to deport people from Al-Aqsa and summon activists for investigation.

In conjunction with the influx of thousands of settlers to the Buraq Wall, the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the neighborhoods of Old Jerusalem witnessed attacks by settlers on the property of Jerusalemite citizens, most notably the destruction of a number of motorcycles.

Meanwhile, the official Palestinian News Agency reported the arrest of 6 citizens from the village of Beit Ijza, northwest of Jerusalem, after their homes were raided and searched.

Coinciding with the start of the war on Gaza, the occupation army expanded its operations in the city of Jerusalem, killing 79 Palestinians, wounding 268, and arresting 1,854, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.