Global condemnation after Israeli forces storm Al-Aqsa mosque

Global criticism and condemnation mounted on Wednesday after Israeli forces brutally attacked Palestinians inside Islam's third-holiest site, sparking retaliation from Gaza which was followed by Israeli airstrikes, with fears of further escalation.

Two more rockets were fired late Wednesday from the besieged Gaza Strip towards Israel, the Israeli army and witnesses said.

Armed Israeli security forces in riot gear stormed the prayer hall of Al-Aqsa mosque before dawn on Wednesday, and injured and detained hundreds of Palestinians.

They were trying to remove worshippers who stay overnight in the mosque in a practice known as itikaaf.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "shocked and appalled" by images he saw of Israeli security forces beating people at the mosque, particularly because it came at a time holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims that should be a period of peace, his spokesman said.

The attack took place in the middle of the holy Islamic month of Ramadan in the run-up to the Jewish Passover holiday and Easter.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US was "extremely concerned by the continuing violence and we urge all sides to avoid further escalation".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country and Israel have been rebuilding ties, said: "Trampling on the Al-Aqsa mosque is our red line."

Israel has intensified its attacks on Palestinians ever since far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took power in December in a coalition with extreme right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

Palestinian witness Abdel Karim Ikraiem, 74, said that Israeli police armed with batons, tear gas grenades and smoke bombs, burst into the mosque "by force" and "beat the women and men" worshipping there.

One video widely circulated on social media showed police clubbing people on the floor inside the mosque.

BREAKING: Israeli police brutally beat Palestinian worshippers inside al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during Ramadan. pic.twitter.com/IiFU10qI5c

— IMEU (@theIMEU) April 4, 2023

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had treated 37 people, including some after their release from custody.

Israel's extreme-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir voiced "complete backing" for police and their "swift and determined" actions.

Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, called on West Bank Palestinians "to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa mosque to defend it".

On Gaza's streets, protesters burned tyres and swore "to defend and protect the Al-Aqsa mosque".

Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh condemned the Israeli police action inside Al-Aqsa, saying "the level of brutality requires urgent Palestinian, Arab and international action".

Germany urged both sides "to do everything possible to calm the situation".

The Arab League denounced "the attack on the faithful" and called an emergency meeting.

Jordan, which administers the mosque, condemned its "storming", and called on Israeli forces to leave the compound immediately.

The United Arab Emirates and Morocco, which established ties with Israel in 2020 as part of US-brokered normalisation accords, also strongly condemned the Israeli police action.

A UAE foreign ministry statement rejected all practices that "threaten to further exacerbate escalation". It also criticised worshippers who "barricade themselves".

Rabat's foreign ministry stressed the need "to avoid measures and violations likely to damage chances of peace in the region".

Qatar warned that Israeli practices "will have serious repercussions on security and stability in the region, and will undermine efforts to revive the stalled peace process, if the international community does not hasten to take action".

So far this year, Israel has killed at least 95 Palestinians in deadly raids on towns and cities in the West Bank.