Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and evicted dozens of Palestinians from its southern mosque on Saturday evening following a stabbing attack in East Beit-ul-Moqaddas’s Old City that claimed two Israelis’ lives.
Witnesses said dozens of Israeli police entered the compound after evening prayers and forcibly evicted up to 70 Palestinians from inside the southern mosque, some of whom were planning to spend the night there, Ma’an reported.
Israeli forces were reported to have climbed on the mosque’s roof and caused damage to one of its minarets.
Witnesses said 12 Palestinians were still inside the mosque, and that Israeli police had set a deadline for them to leave.
After evicting the other Palestinians, Israeli police reportedly withdrew from the holy site, while a group of officers remained at the compound’s Chain Gate.
Earlier on Saturday, two Israelis were killed and two others injured, including a two-year-old infant, in a stabbing attack in the Old City carried out by a Palestinian who was afterward shot dead.
Police named the Palestinian attacker as Mohannad Shafiq Halani, aged 19, from a village near Ramallah in the West Bank.
He launched his attack as tensions soared in occupied East Beit-ul-Moqaddas and the West Bank.
The flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has been the site of clashes for weeks, with Israeli forces repeatedly storming the holy site to clear way for Jewish worshipers during a series of Jewish holidays.
On Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned of the “risk of an intifada” if clashes over the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound continue.
