Gobran Mohammed

CAIRO: Egypt condemned Israeli police for storming Al-Aqsa Mosque and demanded an immediate end to attacks on worshippers.

Israeli police entered Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque before dawn on Wednesday and clashed with worshippers, setting off a furious reaction from Palestinians.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, Egypt condemned, “in the strongest terms, the Israeli police’s storming of Al-Aqsa Al-Sharif Mosque and the accompanying blatant attacks that led to many injuries among worshippers, including women, in violation of all international laws and norms.”

It said that such “abhorrent and reprehensible scenes and the repeated Israeli violations of the sanctity of the holy places fuel the feelings of anger among all the Palestinian people, the Islamic people, and people…all over the world.”

Egypt called on Israeli authorities to stop the attacks that have intimidated worshippers and said it holds Israel, the occupying power, responsible for the dangerous escalation, which undermines the truce efforts Egypt is engaged in with regional and international partners.

It also called for the international community to shoulder its responsibility in putting an end to these attacks and to spare the region further instability and tension.

The Israeli police stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque to expel what it described as “rioters” who brought in “firecrackers, sticks, and stones.”

A spokesperson for the Israeli police said over 350 people were arrested.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that these “irresponsible behaviors in the holy places affect the religious feelings of millions of Muslims worldwide, especially during the holy month of Ramadan.”

He called on the international community, represented by the member states of the UN Security Council, “to move quickly in order to push Israel to stop this dangerous escalation, which threatens to ignite the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Aboul Gheit called on the Israeli government to “respect the sanctity of the month of Ramadan and to stop these provocative actions that would inflame feelings and raise the level of anger.”

The Egyptian Syndicate of Journalists also condemned the “barbaric attack launched by a number of settlers under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces” against Al-Aqsa and the repeated attacks against the Palestinian people.

It urged the UN to take the necessary measures to protect Palestinians and reaffirmed its support for Palestinians struggling for their legitimate rights.