Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly condemned Wednesday, April 5, 2023, the Israeli raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, saying: “I want to express sadness and anger.”

“Türkiye cannot remain silent in the face of Israeli attacks. Reaching out to Al-Aqsa Mosque and trampling on the sanctity of the Haram al-Sharif is our red line,” Erdogan stated after an iftar dinner with retired people in the capital Ankara – a special fast-breaking meal for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“I condemn the vile acts against the first qibla of Muslims and call for the attacks to be stopped as soon as possible,” Erdogan added.

The Israeli troops stormed yesterday Al-Aqsa Mosque, attacked Palestinian worshipers and detained over 400 worshippers from inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

A group of Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the Al-Qibli Prayer Hall in the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex after extremist Israeli settlers called for a raid on the mosque.

Surrounding the Al-Qibli Prayer Hall, Israeli police went up to the roof of the mosque, smashed windows, and fired sound and tear gas bombs at the worshippers inside. Some defenseless Palestinians inside the mosque tried to resist the Israeli troops by throwing small simple fireworks.

During the attack, Israeli forces injured dozens of Palestinian citizens inside the mosque while brutally assaulting them with their high-tech guns.