By Palestine Chronicle Staff 
Palestinian officials have slammed the erection by Israeli forces of barbed wire on a fence around the Lion’s Gate, one of the main gates leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israel has erected barbed wire on a fence around the Lions’ Gate area adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian authorities have said.
“This is a dangerous precedent that has never occurred since 1967,” the Jerusalem governor’s office said in a statement on Monday, according to the Anadolu news agency.
The Lions’ Gate, also known as Bab Al-Asbat, is located within Jerusalem’s Old City and is one of the main gates leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Nasser Qaws, a leader of the Palestinian group Fatah, said Israel “aims to prevent Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan”, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Israeli forces have imposed a strict siege on the Al-Aqsa mosque for five months, preventing entry to it, reported WAFA.
On Sunday night, Israeli forces prevented hundreds of Palestinians from entering the mosque to perform the Tarawih, special night prayers during the holy month.
They beat a Palestinian man near Bab Al-Zahra, one of the gates leading to the mosque, before detaining him, reported WAFA. Soldiers also reportedly detained an Al-Aqsa mosque guard from the Old City of Jerusalem.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims.
Israeli occupation forces obstruct Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque to pray, despite tomorrow marking the first day of #Ramadan in occupied Jerusalem.#GazaHoloucast #IsraeliNewNazism pic.twitter.com/piWRoada9e
— Palestine Info Center (@palinfoen) March 10, 2024
Also on Monday, Israeli forces arrested six Palestinian youths from the town of Al-Issawiya, northeast of occupied Jerusalem.
Video footage showed a group of Israeli soldiers tying the Palestinians with a rope and dragging them in a humiliating manner through the streets of Al-Issawiya, WAFA reported.
Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since Israel launched its military assault against the Gaza Strip after the October 7 military operation carried out by the Palestinian Resistance in southern Israel.
(PC, WAFA)
