OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
In a dangerous and unprecedented development since 1967, Israeli settlers stormed the Aqsa Mosque on Friday, carrying ritual “bread offerings.”
Jerusalem sources said nine settlers entered the Mosque compound after the Asr prayer through Bab al-Ghawanmeh, assaulted two Aqsa guards, and ran toward the Dome of the Rock courtyard while carrying bread offerings linked to the Jewish holiday of “Shavuot” (Feast of Weeks).
The incident came amid widespread incitement by extremist “Temple Mount” groups calling for large-scale incursions into the holy Islamic site on Friday in connection with the Hebrew holiday.
The Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement that the escalation forms part of ongoing attempts to impose new realities inside the Aqsa Mosque, alongside growing calls by extremist groups to introduce plant and animal “sacrificial offerings” inside the compound as part of efforts to entrench Talmudic rituals and alter the Islamic identity of the holy site.
The governorate added that, as seen during previous occasions, most notably the so-called “Jerusalem Day,” which also coincided with a Friday, extremist settler groups intensified calls to storm the Aqsa Mosque on Fridays, despite the Mosque traditionally being closed to settler incursions on both Fridays and Saturdays.
