UN condemns Israeli raids on Palestinian Aqsa Mosque

The Israeli police raids on Palestinian worshipers within Al-Aqsa mosque have been condemned by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People Bureau of the United Nations General Assembly.

According to a statement from the agency, “Israel’s illegal policies and practices have continued to entrench its illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory it has occupied since 1967.”

It demanded that Israel account for its crimes in the occupied Palestinian land and urged Israel to “comply” with its “international legal obligations” under UN resolutions.

“The bureau calls for the respect of all worshippers’ freedom to access religious sites within established parameters,” it stated.

Israeli police raided Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound before dawn on Wednesday and clashed with worshippers.

The incident occurred during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and on the eve of the Jewish Passover, raising fears that emotions built up over a year of rising violence could be released at the Al-Aqsa shrine, where confrontations in 2021 triggered a 10-day war with Gaza.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said 12 Palestinians sustained wounds from rubber-tipped bullets and beatings in clashes with Israeli police. It added that Israeli forces were preventing its medics from reaching the area.

Israeli police said in a statement that security units were forced to enter the compound after what it called masked agitators locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks and stones.

Thousands of worshippers have been spending the night in the mosque compound, amid fears of possible clashes with Jewish visitors to the site, which they revere as the Temple Mount, the site of Judaism’s two ancient Temples.

The Palestinian leadership condemned Israel’s attacks on worshippers, which they described as a crime.