DaysofPal- Dozens of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Tuesday morning through the Mughrabi Gate, under heavy protection from Israeli occupation forces, marking the first day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
According to the Islamic Waqf Department in occupied Jerusalem, groups of settlers conducted provocative tours around the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and performed Talmudic rituals in its eastern area while being closely guarded by Israeli forces.
These incursions were organized in response to calls from what they call extremist “Temple Mount” groups that encouraged large-scale raids throughout the week-long Sukkot festival.
The settler groups offered participants free transportation, refreshments, and guided tours as part of their campaign to increase Jewish presence at the site.
Israeli forces intensified their military presence across the Old City, tightening restrictions at Al-Aqsa’s entrances and preventing many Palestinian worshipers from accessing the mosque.
Witnesses reported that soldiers forced worshipers away from areas near settler paths and threatened Al-Aqsa guards, instructing them to remain inside prayer halls.
Some settlers were seen carrying symbolic plant offerings, ritual items used during Sukkot, near the Hitta Gate, one of the mosque’s main entrances.
Israeli forces reportedly organized the entry of settler groups at ten-minute intervals throughout the morning.
Extremist Jewish groups have long sought to perform religious rituals inside Al-Aqsa, an action widely viewed by Palestinians as a direct attempt to impose new religious and political realities on the site and advance its Judaization.
Palestinian religious authorities warned that these activities are part of a broader Israeli effort to assert control over the compound and to implement a temporal and spatial division of the site, a move that has drawn strong condemnation from Palestinians and the wider Muslim world.
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