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Marking 'Jerusalem Day', settlers storm Al-Aqsa

Tensions flared when Israeli settlers entered Al-Aqsa compound.

May 26, 2017 at 3:30 pm

Hundreds of settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque to mark Jerusalem Day on Wednesday.

Video footage released by the Joint Headquarters of the Temple Movements shows the settlers as they “toured” the area along with a Rabbi. This is the largest number of Jewish settlers to enter the Al-Aqsa compound at one time.

Israel’s Arutz Sheva 7 reported that said the organisers described the event as a “dramatic turning point for the Temple Mount”, in reference to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Read: Settlers spray anti-Arab graffiti around Jerusalem

Tensions flared when the Israeli settlers entered the compound on Israel’s “Jerusalem Day”, an annual celebration on the anniversary of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, an official from the Islamic Waqf, which runs Al-Aqsa, said.

Israeli police arrested three guards after assaulting them near Silsilah Gate.

Khalil Tarhoni, one of the guards, is currently hospitalised after he was severely beaten by Israeli police in an incident caught on video.