Hamas condemns Israeli construction of new settler outpost in al-Quds

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has strongly condemned the Israeli regime’s decision to construct a new settler outpost in the occupied al-Quds, calling it a “violation of international law.”

In remarks on Sunday, Hamas’s political bureau Abdul-Jabbar Sa’eid said that the building of such an illegal settlement in as-Sawahira area would mean more Judaization of the holy city.

The Hamas official further accused Israeli forces of attacking peaceful demonstrators who protest against their forced displacement and expulsion from their homes in the East -al-Quds’ al-Bustan and other neighborhoods.

The Israeli regime was resorting to aggressive means and depriving the local residents of their legitimate right to protest and demonstration, the spokesman said.

In recent months, Israeli authorities have approved plans for the construction of hundreds of new settler units in the West Bank, irrespective of the international outcry against the Tel Aviv regime’s land grab policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Emboldened by former US president Donald Trump’s all-out support, Israel stepped up its illegal settlement construction activities in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounced settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”

Much of the international community regards the Israeli settler units in the occupied lands as illegal.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East al-Quds as its capital.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Sa’eid warned that extremist settlers were seeking to fuel a religious war by staging the so-called "flag march" near the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the coming days.

He urged the massive presence of Palestinians at the holy site to nullify the march by Israeli settlers.

Israeli settlers storm al-Aqsa Mosque, perform provocative dances

Israeli settlers raise Israeli flags and perform provocative dances inside al-Aqsa Mosque.

266 Israeli settlers intrude into al-Aqsa Mosque 

Hundreds of Israeli settlers, escorted by military forces, intruded into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds in the latest act of provocation against the sacred site.

On Sunday morning, at least 266 Israeli settlers were inside the al-Aqsa Mosque in groups through its Maghariba Gate and toured its courtyards under the full protection of police forces, the Palestinian Information Center, citing local sources, reported.

According to the report, Israeli police also imposed movement restrictions on Muslim worshipers at the entrances and gates of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Such mass settler break-ins almost always take place at the behest of Tel Aviv-backed temple groups and under the auspices of the Israeli police in al-Quds.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Jewish visitation of al-Aqsa is permitted, but according to an agreement signed between Israel and the Jordanian government in the wake of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem al-Quds in 1967, non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited.

 Israeli settlers assault Palestinian shepherds, journalist

Separately on Sunday, a group of extremist Israeli settlers assaulted herders and a journalist as they seized and bulldozed a tract of private Palestinian land in the southern part of the occupied West Bank

Palestine's official Wafa news agency quoting local sources reported that the attack took place in the village of Khallet Taha, to the southwest of al-Khalil, on Sunday

The settlers attacked Palestinian herders who were grazing their livestock and forced them out of the area, the report said.

They also attacked Wafa’s cameraman, Mash’hour Wihwah, causing him bruises while he was covering the Israeli attack in the area.

Palestine calls on international community to stop Israeli criminal acts, settlers’ terrorism

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates urges the international community to take proper measures aimed at stopping Israeli criminal acts and settlers’ terrorism.

The occupied territories have witnessed a rise in settler violence against Palestinians in recent months.

Israeli settlers and regime troops escalated attacks on Palestinians since late December 2022, when Benjamin Netanyahu staged a comeback as the regime's prime minister at the head of a cabinet of far-right parties.

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