AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – Scores of Zionist settlers on Wednesday forced their way into the flashpoint al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East al-Quds, according to a Palestinian agency.
The Islamic Endowment Department in al-Quds said in a statement that 74 settlers broke into the compound under the protection of Zionist troops.
Al-Alam reported that the marauding settlers were led by Judah Ghalik, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, who charged from the western gate and performed some Judaic rituals inside the complex.
More settlers are expected to enter the site later in the afternoon. Zionist settlers storm the al-Aqsa complex every day except on weekends.
Zionist troops began allowing the settler incursions in 2003, despite repeated global condemnations.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims.
The regime occupied East al-Quds, where al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Zionist War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.
Meanwhile, Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip warned the Zionist regime against delays in lifting restrictions imposed on the coastal enclave and impeding reconstruction after last month’s devastating attacks.
The warning was issued on Tuesday after leaders of various factions in the Gaza Strip met in a Hamas office to discuss the latest developments surrounding a ceasefire reached in May between the Zionist regime and Hamas resistance movement, which ended the 11-day Zionist assault on Gaza.
The Palestinian factions presented a list of demands to the occupying regime that included the reopening of crossings, allowing the transfer of financial aid from Qatar, and the reopening of Gaza’s fishing zone.
The factions warned if the Zionist regime refuses to comply with their demands, they would resume retaliatory attacks on the occupied territories.
Hamas vowed to resist the Zionist regime’s policy of blackmailing Palestinians, saying the great Palestinian people and resistance will not keep silent in the face of Tel Aviv violations and crimes, including the regime’s delay to lift the 14-year siege on the Gaza Strip.
“We are ready for all options and we will resist by any means and the enemy will not succeed in its policy of blackmailing,” Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday, after its leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, warned that the Zionist regime has no will to end the humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.