Local media denounced the new attack, which was supported by the uniformed men and violently evicted the Muslim worshipers who were in the religious premises.
The Palestinian Islamic Endowments Department criticized the intrusions and provocations of the settlers.
Israeli troops prevented Jerusalemites from entering the Old City to reach the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Inside the complex, they also evacuated the journalists present from the area and tightened their procedures to deny them access, Al Quds news portal said.
In this regard, the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad warned that such violations will not go unanswered.
Resistance operations and confrontations with the Israeli occupation will continue in all areas to prevent their plans to Judaize Jerusalem, he stressed.
For its part, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs condemned this Tuesday “the ongoing violations by extremist settlers in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and Israeli restrictions on Palestinians in the Old City of Jerusalem.”
According to the Safa news agency, around 4,500 Jews broke into the mosque’s esplanade in September.
Just over two weeks ago, Israel’s Beyadenu movement, a group viewed by Palestinians as racist and extremist, announced that some 49,000 Jews had entered the religious complex in the past 12 months.
The data is reassuring and encouraging; there is stability and consistency in the number of Jews climbing the Temple Mount (as followers of the religion call it), said Tom Nisani, executive director of Beyadenu, which promotes the community’s entry despite widespread opposition the Arabs and the associated confrontations.
The site is sacred to the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Due to agreements made decades ago, non-Muslims, including Jews, are only allowed to visit the complex under numerous conditions and at certain times, but not to pray.
Given the massive increase in visitor numbers and the slow expansion of local Jewish prayer, Muslim and Palestinian authorities denounce that Israel is trying to change the status quo.
The Esplanade is part of the Old City in the eastern part of the metropolis, which was occupied by the Israeli army during the 1967 war.
mv/rob