Hezbollah decries Israeli attacks against Palestinians in al-Quds

Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has denounced Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Jerusalem al-Quds, expressing its solidarity with the victims.

In a statement on Friday, Hezbollah praised the Palestinian people who confronted the Israeli attacks on Palestinian worshipers in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds.

The group also expressed its pride in “the heroic stance of the Palestinian faithfuls at the Damascus Gate and other areas in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds.”

It strongly condemned the intensified Israeli military measures and the harassment by Israeli forces and settlers against Palestinians, which have been ongoing for several days and which have resulted in dozens of injuries and the arrest of a number of Palestinians.

Hezbollah expressed its “full solidarity with the honorable Palestinian people.”

On Thursday, Palestinians confronted attacks by Israeli settlers in Jerusalem al-Quds.

The clashes, which began on Thursday evening and continued until the early hours of Friday, left at least 105 Palestinians, including women and children, injured.

Israeli forces also arrested 50 Palestinians during the skirmishes.

Also on Friday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks, calling on the international community to “take practical measures to compel Israel to immediately end its occupation and settlement, and to impose sanctions on it and hold its leaders accountable for their violations and crimes.”

60,000 Palestinian worshipers attend Friday prayers at al-Aqsa

Despite Israeli restrictions, thousands of Palestinians performed Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Some 60,000 Palestinian worshipers attended the prayers, while thousands of others were blocked by Israeli troops from reaching the site.

Earlier on Friday, the Palestinian resistance movement of Islamic Jihad urged Palestinians to defy the Israeli forces and head to al-Aqsa Mosque and protect it from Israeli settlers’ attacks.

In a statement, the movement praised the people of Jerusalem al-Quds who are defending al-Aqsa and the identity of al-Quds against Israeli plots.

It also called for demonstrations in support of al-Quds and its people.

Palestinians took part in several protests in the besieged Gaza Strip, including in the cities of Jabalia and Rafah, to express their solidarity with the people in Jerusalem al-Quds who have been subjected to intensified attacks by Israeli forces and settlers since the beginning of Ramadan.

‘Army of return’

Addressing demonstrators in Gaza City, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of the political bureau of the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas, said any desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque was a desecration of the mosques in all Arab and Muslim countries.

He urged Islamic and Arab nations to form an “Army of return” to liberate al-Aqsa Mosque and al-Quds.

In his speech, Zahar condemned the normalization deals recently reached between some Arab regimes and Tel Aviv.

The Palestinians have denounced the deals as a stab in their back and a direct affront to their cause of liberating their land from Israeli occupation.

‘Don’t test our patience’

Commenting on the Thursday incidents, Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, vowed to defend al-Aqsa Mosque, al-Quds, and its people.

Addressing the people of Jerusalem al-Quds, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said the Palestinians in al-Quds had the solid support of the Gazans and stressed that the two shared the battle to liberate Palestine.

It also warned Israel “not to test our patience.”

Separately, Israeli forces suppressed an anti-settlement protest in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds on Friday, attacking the participants in the demonstration.

Fresh anti-settlement protests also took place in the occupied West Bank.

In Kafr Qaddum, clashes erupted between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces, who used tear gas against the demonstrators, leaving an unspecified number of the demonstrators suffering breathing difficulties.

Israeli forces also attacked a weekly anti-settlement protest in the village of Beit Dajan, injuring a number of Palestinians.

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

After former US president Donald Trump took office in December 2016, Israel stepped up its settlement expansion in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounces settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk