Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa, inflaming Jerusalem tensions

 News Desk  - The Cradle

Violent settler incursions into the holy site are one of the main factors that led to the 7 October attack by the Palestinian resistance

Tensions in Jerusalem rose after dozens of violent settlers charged the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard on the second day of the Jewish holiday of Purim on 25 March.

The extremist settlers were under the protection of the Israeli police, according to Jerusalem’s Islamic Endowments Department. Settlers started entering the compound in the early hours of Monday from the Mughrabi gate and continued to push into the eastern and northern courtyards.

Israeli police searched those entering the mosque for the Islamic dawn prayer and prevented many worshipers from accessing the holy site.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), as well as several other global organizations, have voiced condemnation over the settlers’ actions at Al-Aqsa Mosque, noting that their behavior could worsen the chances of a prolonged peace deal.

Settler violence against the Palestinians has reached all-time highs under the Benjamin Netanyahu government and has only increased since 7 October.

Over 140 families have been displaced in the West Bank since the beginning of Israel’s hostilities against Gaza, amounting to around a thousand people.

Settlements in the West Bank have also been reinforced with heavy weapons and fortified with defensive measures like bombs and machine guns.

Hamas’ statement on the reasoning behind their operation in October asked what the “world expects the Palestinian people to do in response” to the decades of violence they endured at the hands of the Israelis.

One point laid out in the statement was “the Israeli Judaization plans for the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, its temporal and spatial division attempts, as well as the intensification of the Israeli settlers’ incursions into the holy mosque.”

The violence by the extremist settlers against the Palestinian people and the storming of and plans to demolish Al-Aqsa are some of the factors leading to the Qassam Brigades' decision to launch its Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October.