20 bullets were reportedly fired in less than a minute, according to witnesses, just after Tarawih prayer in the evening at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
On Friday night in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli troops assassinated a Palestinian man.
According to eyewitnesses, Israeli troops stationed at the Chain Gate (Bab al-Silsela) allegedly beat a Palestinian lady who was seeking to re-enter the mosque. The young guy, a medical school graduate, reportedly fought with them and was shot as a result.
A guy attempted to take a soldier’s weapon, according to Israeli police, who then shot and “neutralized” the individual. Muhammad Al-Osaibi, a 26-year-old native of the Naqab (Negev) area of southern Israel who had studied medicine in Romania, was subsequently confirmed deceased and identified by family members.
Israel suffered no casualties.
One individual was wounded and laying on the ground close to the Chain Gate when 20 gunshots were reportedly heard being fired in less than a minute.
As tens of thousands of worshipers departed the compound during the Ramadan Tarawih night prayer, Israeli troops locked the mosque’s entrances. According to Palestinian media, police barred anybody from returning to resume their evening prayers.
A guy was seen in a video that was posted online lying on the ground close to the Chain Gate with Israeli police officers watching him.
A witness who stayed inside Al-Aqsa Mosque with a small group of worshipers reported hearing the gunshots to the local news source Al Jarmaq News.
He added that after the Friday noon prayer, Israeli forces went into the mosque’s courtyards to take down banners put up there earlier in the day by worshipers.
After the prayer, a large group of people held signs and chanted slogans in support of Palestinian resistance organizations.
250,000 Palestinians
According to statistics provided by the mosque’s administrators, the mosque was jam-packed with close to 250,000 Palestinians who flocked to the location for the second Friday prayer of Ramadan. It is almost four times as many worshipers as typically attend the prayer.
In the meantime, Israeli forces restricted access to the site and restricted movement in the city with the deployment of more than 2,000 officers.
Prior to the Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins on April 5 and lasts for a week, increased security measures are in place.
In honor of the holiday, a large number of Israeli settlers are expected to storm the mosque at a time when Palestinians who are fasting during the holy month of Ramadan typically fill the area. Because they run the risk of provoking Palestinians, some settlers have requested that the authorities permit them to carry out ritual animal slaughter in the mosque courtyard.
According to decades-old international agreements, non-Muslim prayers and rituals are prohibited in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is Islam’s third holiest site.
Israeli gatherings, in a joint effort with police, have long disregarded the fragile plan and worked with spontaneous visits to the site and performed supplications and strict ceremonies.
International law says that an occupying power has no sovereignty over the territory it occupies and cannot make any permanent changes there. Israel’s control of East Jerusalem, including the Old City, is a violation of several of these principles.
