Israeli radicals stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and carried out rituals

RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – There were dozens of Israeli extremists who stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, the Muslim body that manages the holy site said.

Israeli radicals raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, the Muslim body that manages the site said.

Dozens of extremists stormed Al-Aqsa in groups and toured the holy place, the Islamic Waqf was cited as saying by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Israelis also carried out Jewish religious rituals, the Waqf said, in violation of a longstanding status-quo arrangement governing the Al-Aqsa compound, which reserves prayer at the site for Muslims alone.

Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam and the most-sacred Muslim place in Palestine.

Like other Muslim and Christian sacred places in East Jerusalem, it is often targeted by Jewish extremists.

Many radical Israelis seek to either split the Al-Aqsa compound in terms of time and space available between Jews and Muslims or replace the mosque with a Jewish temple.

Palestinians view East Jerusalem, which Israel illegally annexed in 1980 after capturing it in 1967, as the capital of their future independent state.

Almost the entire international community rejects Israel’s annexation and sovereignty claims over Jerusalem.

However, Israeli authorities and settlers have been accused of pushing Palestinians out of the city.