The Israeli occupation police stormed last night the Aqsa Mosque, expelled Muslim worshipers from the holy site and arrested some Aqsa guards and three children.
According to local sources, police forces defiled the Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards and forced Muslim worshipers, who were performing I’tikaf (religious retreat) on the second night of Dhul Hijjah, to leave the Islamic holy site and the Old City of Jerusalem.
Police officers also confiscated the bags and belongings of some female worshipers after preventing them from continuing to perform I’tikaf in the Mosque’s Qibli prayer building.
As they were leaving the Mosque, female Muslim worshipers started to chant religious slogans in support of the holy site.
Some extremist Jewish settlers verbally attacked female Muslim worshipers in the Old City’s roads after they had to leave the Mosque.
In this regard, the Hamas Movement condemned the Israeli police for forcing Muslim worshipers to leave the Mosque last night, describing such a practice as a “serious crime” and a “further escalation of the religious war on the holy site.”