By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA): Israeli forces Tuesday evening attacked Palestinian Muslim worshippers inside the Al-Aqsa mosque in the occupied city of Jerusalem, leaving many of them wounded, while arresting others, according to eyewitnesses.

The Israeli attack took place near the Al-Rahma gate of the flashpoint mosque after maghrib prayers, the eyewitnesses added, without specifying the number of soldiers.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its team treated one worshipper wounded by the attack en route to the hospital, without providing further details. Israeli forces detained 22 Palestinians from the compound.

On Sunday evening, Israeli police temporarily shut the Al-Rahma Gate, triggering Palestinian protests the following day.

Located east of the mosque, the gate was closed by Israeli forces in 2003. An Israeli court, meanwhile, renewed its closure in 2017.

Jerusalem’s Department of Islamic Endowments — run by Jordan — has repeatedly called for re-opening the gate, but Israeli police have yet to respond.

Israeli soldiers abducted, on Tuesday afternoon, three Palestinian women while leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque, through the Gate of the Tribes, in occupied East Jerusalem.

Media sources said the soldiers abducted Samah Mahameed, Islam Manasra and a woman from Da’our family.

They added that the soldiers took the three abducted women to a nearby police base.

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) warned that the escalating Israeli violations against the holy sites, including the closure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque gates a day earlier, in addition to the frequent invasions into Al-Aqsa, and the latest assaults and abductions of many worshipers, including women, would only lead to further tension.

[Photo: Masjid Al-Aqsa raided by Israeli forces. Photographer: Andrew-Shiva/Creative Commons]