Occupation officials from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority stormed the Islamic cemetery of Bab Al-Rahma, adjacent to the eastern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, Quds Press reported on Wednesday.
The Islamic Endowment Department in Jerusalem said that members of the Nature and Parks Authority stormed the cemetery protected by the Israeli police and damaged the graves.
According to the sources, police attacked a number of Palestinian youths who attempted to stop the Israeli aggression.
Palestinian activists from Silwan, which is adjacent to the cemetery, said Israeli authorities have long been working to annex the area. In 2015, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority set up a railway, wires and poles around the cemetery, claiming it had a court ruling stating it owned 1,800 square metres of the total area of the Islamic site.
Then, in 2016 and 2017, the authority demolished a number of graves.
Read: Palestine’s Mamilla Cemetery and Israel’s colonial project