Israeli occupation forces attacked Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, wounding more than 150 Palestinians while it was filled with Ramadan worshippers on one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar.
Six people sustained serious injuries during the hours-long assault on one of the world’s most significant religious sites on April 15, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), and more than 400 were arrested.
The rights group said that the violence began after thousands of worshippers observed dawn prayers amid a “heavy” presence of Israeli occupation forces in the area, including on the rooftops of gates to the mosque compound.
After the dawn prayer, Palestinians placed wooden barriers around the al-Aqsa mosque prayer hall in anticipation of an Israeli raid, PCHR said, and fired firecrackers towards one of the gates where Israeli forces were stationed.
“Immediately, Israeli occupation forces raided the entire mosque with hundreds of troops” and fired live bullets, tear gas and stun grenades, PCHR added.
Video from inside the mosque shows sound grenades exploding inside the prayer hall and Israeli forces deploying inside.
Israeli forces closed off entry to the compound, preventing access to paramedics, and attacked mosque guards, health workers and media personnel.
Al Jazeera reported that one of the guards was shot in the eye with a rubber-coated bullet.
Read the article by Maureen Clare Murphy in Green Left.