54 Palestinians detained in West Bank as Israeli settlers raid al-Aqsa Mosque

Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Monday under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, while 54 Palestinians were detained during widespread raids across the occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs, settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound 27 times during December. In addition, Israeli occupation forces prevented the call to prayer 53 times at the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs).

This comes amid concerns that Israel is intensifying its crimes to Judaize occupied East Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to erase its Arab and Islamic identity, the report noted.

In separate incidents across the occupied West Bank, Israeli occupation forces arrested 54 Palestinians, including a child and a journalist, during widespread raids against the occupied territory.

The home of journalist Inas Ikhlawi was raided by Israeli occupation forces before she was detained, the Quds News Network (QNN) reported. Her brother, Raafat Ikhlawi, said the soldiers broke down the family’s doors in the early hours, brutally abducted his sister and dragged her out without a headscarf or warm clothing, the report stated.

Israeli forces raided the town of Beitunia in the Ramallah district of the central West Bank. The raids were accompanied by extensive searches of homes and the destruction of their contents, amid a heavy deployment of forces in the targeted areas.

This coincided with an attack by Israeli settlers on a Muslim cemetery in al-Quds Old City, where they vandalized some gravestones. The settlers smashed the headstones of multiple graves and caused extensive damage to others.

Several Palestinian students in al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, suffered from tear gas inhalation on Monday, during an Israeli military incursion into the town.

The report stated that occupation troops stormed the al-Tall area in the old city of al-Khader and attacked students as they were leaving their schools, firing tear gas and stun grenades.

In Silwan neighborhood, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Israeli settlers took over a Palestinian home belonging to the Basbous family in the Batn al-Hawa area.

Since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza in October 2023, the Israeli occupation army and illegal settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have killed at least 1,105 Palestinians, injured approximately 11,000, and arrested more than 21,000, according to Al-Jazeera Arabic.