The New Arab Staff
28 February, 2022
Fourteen Palestinians were wounded and 20 detained after Israeli police attacked Muslim worshippers.
Al-Aqsa mosque, located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the third holiest site in Islam. [Getty]
Israeli forces detained at least 20 Palestinians and assaulted worshippers who had gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday on Monday at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, activists and local media reported.
Fourteen Palestinians were wounded, including a child, and four were taken to hospital for treatment, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced on Monday evening, as they worshipped the Muslim festival of Al-Israa and Miraj.
Videos shared by Palestinians on social media showed Israeli forces throwing teargas and stun grenades into a crowd of worshippers, with many children and infants in the congregation, sparking panic.
One video showed an Israeli officer pushing a young woman to the ground and punching her, before dragging her away in a headlock with the help of other policemen.
Worshippers gathered near Al-Aqsa mosque - the third holiest site in Islam and the place from which Prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven - on Monday to celebrate the Al-Israa and Miraj holiday.
Since Jerusalem became entirely occupied by Israel in 1967, the complex containing the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been repeatedly targeted by Israeli settlers, police and soldiers.
Abuses against Palestinian worshippers have intensified over the past months.
Israeli settlers routinely break into the complex during Friday prayers to attack the mosque and believers, with the tacit approval of Israeli forces stationed near the mosque.
In 2021, the complex was raided by over 34,500 Israelis according to Palestine's Waqf ministry, the authority responsible for Palestinian holy sites.
Al-Aqsa mosque has become a highly symbolic battleground crystallising tensions between Israeli settlers, who would like to claim all of Jerusalem, and Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. The United Nations considers East Jerusalem occupied Palestinian land.
Abuses against Palestinian worshippers have intensified over the past months.
Israeli settlers routinely break into the complex during Friday prayers to attack the mosque and believers, with the tacit approval of Israeli forces stationed near the mosque.
In 2021, the complex was raided by over 34,500 Israelis according to Palestine's Waqf ministry, the authority responsible for Palestinian holy sites.
Al-Aqsa mosque has become a highly symbolic battleground crystallising tensions between Israeli settlers, who would like to claim all of Jerusalem, and Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. The United Nations considers East Jerusalem occupied Palestinian land.
Israel bulldozers demolish three Palestinian business structures
February 28, 2022
A view from the site as a building belonging to a Palestinian family demolishing by Israeli forces allegedly for being "unlicensed", in Nahalin village of Bethlehem, West Bank on December 21, 2021 [Wisam Hashlamoun - Anadolu Agency]
February 28, 2022 at 5:46 pm
Israeli municipal authorities ordered the demolition of a Palestinian grocery store, bakery and carwash in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Al-Mukabbir.
According to Wafa news agency the commercial buildings were targeted because occupation forces say they were built without the necessary permits.
Palestinian and Israeli rights groups say the Israeli demolition policy aims to limit the presence of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem.
Iyaad Jaafreh, the grocery store owner, was also notified of occupation authorities' intention to take over a three dunum (0.74 acres) plot of land belonging to his family due to public interest.
Israeli authorities regularly carry out demolitions of Palestinian-owned homes and businesses in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, under the pretext that they are built without permits.
At least one-third of all Palestinian homes in Jerusalem lack building permits, placing some 100,000 Palestinians at risk of forced displacement. In 2014 Israel issued only one such permit to Palestinians and none the following year.
According to the Palestinian National Information Centre, Israel has forced Palestinians living in East Jerusalem to demolish more than 1,900 homes since it occupied the city in 1967.
February 28, 2022
A view from the site as a building belonging to a Palestinian family demolishing by Israeli forces allegedly for being "unlicensed", in Nahalin village of Bethlehem, West Bank on December 21, 2021 [Wisam Hashlamoun - Anadolu Agency]
February 28, 2022 at 5:46 pm
Israeli municipal authorities ordered the demolition of a Palestinian grocery store, bakery and carwash in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Al-Mukabbir.
According to Wafa news agency the commercial buildings were targeted because occupation forces say they were built without the necessary permits.
Palestinian and Israeli rights groups say the Israeli demolition policy aims to limit the presence of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem.
Iyaad Jaafreh, the grocery store owner, was also notified of occupation authorities' intention to take over a three dunum (0.74 acres) plot of land belonging to his family due to public interest.
Israeli authorities regularly carry out demolitions of Palestinian-owned homes and businesses in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, under the pretext that they are built without permits.
At least one-third of all Palestinian homes in Jerusalem lack building permits, placing some 100,000 Palestinians at risk of forced displacement. In 2014 Israel issued only one such permit to Palestinians and none the following year.
According to the Palestinian National Information Centre, Israel has forced Palestinians living in East Jerusalem to demolish more than 1,900 homes since it occupied the city in 1967.
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