Israel erects barbed wire around Lions’ Gate near Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

Israel has erected barbed wire on a fence around the Lions’ Gate area adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian authorities said yesterday, Anadolu reported.

“This is a dangerous precedent that has never occurred since 1967,” the Jerusalem governor’s office said in a statement.

The Lions’ Gate, also known as Bab Al-Asbat, is located within Jerusalem’s Old City and is one of the main gates leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Jerusalem Governorate indicated that “275 Israeli settlers have stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under heavy protection from the Israeli occupation forces,” on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.

Nasser Qaws, a leader in the Palestinian group Fatah, said the Israeli move “aims to prevent Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan,” the official news agency Wafa reported.

There was no Israeli comment on the report.

On Sunday night, Israeli forces prevented hundreds of Palestinians from entering the mosque to perform Taraweeh, special night prayers during the holy month.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, a move never recognised by the international community.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip in October last year.

Read: Jordan says Al-Aqsa Mosque restrictions risk ‘explosion’