Hundreds of settlers defile Aqsa Mosque under police guard

More than 500 Israeli settlers on Wednesday morning desecrated the Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards under tight police protection.

Eyewitnesses told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that some settlers behaved provocatively during their presence at the Mosque and as they were leaving through al-Silsila Gate. They added that the Israeli policemen assaulted the Aqsa guards and rounded up three of them.

Awkaf (Endowment) department officials said that the settlers broke into the holy Islamic site in ten groups, adding that the total number of settlers reached 525, which, they said, is the biggest in the history of morning forced tours in the site.

Meanwhile, the Israeli police are still persistent in imposing tight security measures in east Jerusalem and its Old City and preventing pro-Aqsa activists from entering the Mosque.