Jerusalem (UNA/WAFA) – The guards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, on Monday, thwarted the entry of settlers into its courtyards, through the Al-Ghawanmeh Gate.
Eyewitnesses reported that settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque through Bab al-Ghawanmeh, one of its gates, carrying a sacrificial lamb. Al-Aqsa guards pursued them and foiled their attempt to offer it in Al-Aqsa on the second Passover holiday.
594 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque today, performing provocative Talmudic rituals in its courtyards, amid restrictions on worshippers.
In the same context, the Jerusalem Governorate denounced, in a statement, the attempted slaughter of an animal inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, deeming it a "dangerous development that cannot be tolerated."
She explained that a group of settlers attempted this morning to smuggle a small lamb into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, with the intention of slaughtering it inside its courtyards, in a criminal attempt to violate the sanctity of the holiest site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina.
She reported that three settlers managed to smuggle a sheep hidden in a cloth bag through Bab al-Ghawanmeh, in an attempt to slaughter it according to Talmudic rituals.
The governorate emphasized that this development constitutes a serious crossing of all red lines, adding, "If the slaughter had been carried out inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, no one could have predicted the repercussions that would result from this criminal act."
The governorate held the occupation authorities fully responsible for this serious crime and called for an immediate halt to the settlers' attacks. It warned that continued collusion with these extremist groups and attempts to impose a fait accompli at Al-Aqsa Mosque could lead to dire consequences.
The Jerusalem Governorate called on the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nations to take urgent and serious action to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque and thwart the occupation's plans to transform it into a synagogue as part of a plan for temporal and spatial division.
She saluted the vigilance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque guards, who are subjected to harassment, deportation, arrest, and assault by the occupation police and its settlers. She called for continued vigilance and attention to any new attempts that extremist settlers may make against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.
