Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi has said that restrictions imposed by Israel on Muslims’ access to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan was pushing the situation towards an “explosion.”
Safadi insisted that his country rejected Israel’s announced plan to limit access to the holy site during Ramadan, citing security needs with war raging in Gaza.
“Jordan echoes the Palestinian view that such restrictions were an attack on freedom of worship,” he said.
Israeli forces have restricted entry to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, for several months.
According to news reports, Israeli forces prevented hundreds of Muslim worshippers from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for prayers to mark the start of Ramadan on Sunday, March 10, 2024, evening.
Israeli forces barred men and young women from entering the mosque, only allowing women over the age of 40 to pray, it said.
Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor at Qatar University, also hinted on the risk of escalation.
Speaking to a news agency, Zweiri disclosed that after pressure from the U.S and European countries, there was a debate within the Israeli government which made the far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, no longer in charge of Al-Aqsa Mosque and gave Netanyahu full responsibility.
“This happened last night after two to three weeks of discussion behind closed doors between the Americans, the Europeans and the Israelis about this particular issue because Americans have no interest in seeing the West Bank as basically another Gaza.”
“If the Israelis do not listen to the Americans, [the] West Bank is likely to become another Gaza in a matter of months.”
Mahjoob Zweiri
He added that the security assessment that Netanyahu backed, shared by the Israeli security service Shin Bet and intelligence service, Mossad, found that the more Palestinians are allowed into Al-Aqsa Mosque, the less “confrontational situation”, which was convincing in part due to the pressure from the U.S.
Meanwhile, in its latest update, Gaza’s Health Ministry announced that at least 31,112 people in Gaza have been killed and 72,760 wounded by Israeli attacks on the enclave since October 7, 2023.
Nader Abu Sharekh, an Islamic preacher, told a news agency from Rafah that “the whole world has forsaken” Gaza.
“We address Muslims in every corner of the world. How can you accept seeing Gaza people suffer in this holy month,” he said.
Abu Sharekh said that Gaza’s residents are “left with nothing, not even potable water.”
“Israel is slaughtering our people, innocent women and children … There is not a single house that is not mourning the loss of loved ones. And above all, we are starving to death.”
“The Gaza people are receiving Ramadan, the holy month, with grief, sadness, starvation and blood.”
Nader Abu Sharekh
Toll Of Palestinian Detainees Nears 8,000
According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the total number of Palestinians arrested since October 7 to 7,530.
This came as the Israeli army arrested at least 25 Palestinians, including former prisoners and children, in multiple raids overnight across several cities in the occupied West Bank.
The raids were concentrated in the governorates of Ramallah and el-Bireh, Qalqilya, Salfit and Bethlehem.
In a statement, Qaddoura Fares, Head of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, condemned Netanyahu’s decision to provide more detention holding centres.
On Sunday, Netanyahu met several of his ministers, including far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and instructed them to carry out his decision.
“Netanyahu’s mind is crowded with hateful, aggressive plans, and the decision he made to equip and prepare new detention places categorically confirms his decision to continue the war against the Palestinian people for as long as possible,” Fares said in a statement.
“This means that the series of arrests will continue in an upward curve against our defenceless people,” Fares added.
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