Aqsa Mosque: 150k Worshippers Attended Friday Prayers, Palestinian Flag Raised For First Time in Decades

By Staff, Agencies

The Friday prayers on the third week of the holy month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied city of al-Quds were sandwiched by ‘Israeli’ police attacks on Palestinians worshippers.

This, however, did not stop some 150,000 Palestinians travelling to the mosque to worship, according to the occupied al-Quds’ Islamic Waqf [endowment] society.

Also on Friday, in yet another challenge to the ‘Israeli’ occupation forces, a Palestinian youth raised the Palestinian flag on the Dome of the Rock, something that didn’t happen in the holy site over the past twenty years.

Local media reported that the youth raised the Palestinian flag on the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the holy al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Friday night, where masses of male and female worshippers were encouraging him to do so, as ‘Israeli’ occupation forces were looking.

Everything happened after ‘Israeli’ occupation forces raided the holy mosque on Friday after dawn prayers, injuring at least 31 Palestinians, including one paramedic and three journalists, with rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.

Tear gas was also fired after Friday prayers, hitting Palestinians worshipping at the Dome of the Rock Mosque.

Settler incursions under police protection during the past week during the so-called Jewish festival of ‘Passover’ had led to daily confrontations with Palestinians at the mosque, with many injured and arrested.