Occupation forces ban 12 Jerusalemites from Al-Aqsa and open a settlement tunnel in Silwan

On Thursday, Israeli occupation authorities issued orders banning 12 Palestinians from occupied Jerusalem, including a Sharia judge, from Al-Aqsa Mosque, while settlers continued to storm the mosque. Sources in the Jerusalem Governorate reported that occupation forces issued 12 orders to ban individuals from the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque for a renewable period of one week.

The sources stated that among those banned were the Sharia judge of Jerusalem, Sheikh Iyad Al-Abbasi, released prisoners, mosque guards, and Jerusalemites, as part of the ongoing targeting and harassment policy against the city's residents. A report by the Governorate also indicated that two employees of the Islamic Endowments Department, Mahdi Al-Abbasi and Abdul Rahman Al-Sharif, were transferred to administrative detention for four months by a decision issued by the occupation army minister, Yisrael Katz.

Since the beginning of February, occupation authorities have issued dozens of ban orders from Al-Aqsa Mosque, in addition to more than 100 orders during last January. These measures come ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, as the occupation police have threatened to intensify arrests against worshipers attempting to perform I'tikaf (seclusion for worship) in the mosque.

Regarding the incursions, sources reported that 279 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday, where they performed public prayers, loud dancing and singing circles, and Talmudic rituals including prostration, in a continuous violation of the status quo inside the blessed mosque.

Concerning Judaization policies, the Jerusalem Governorate considered the opening of an archaeological tunnel in the city an attempt to falsify Palestinian history. It clarified that the opening of the so-called 'Pilgrims' Road' colonial tunnel in the town of Silwan is a false exploitation of the archaeological site of 'Street of the Tombs,' which is an ancient Roman road unrelated to Jewish historical claims.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog had opened the road on Wednesday to settlers and tourists, with the participation of settlement entities and Zionist funders. The tunnel extends 600 meters, starting from beneath the homes of Jerusalemites in Wadi Hilweh in Silwan, reaching the foundations of the Buraq Wall west of Al-Aqsa Mosque, at an estimated cost of about 15 million dollars.

In a related context, the Jerusalem Governorate announced that occupation authorities have begun work on paving the 'Road 45' settlement road north of occupied Jerusalem, with the aim of connecting the settlements established north of the city and east of Ramallah with Jerusalem. The road extends from the town of Mikhmas in the east to the Qalandia tunnel in the west, with a length of approximately 5 kilometers, confiscating about 280 dunams of Palestinian citizens' lands.

The opening of the so-called 'Pilgrims' Road' colonial tunnel is a direct extension of the occupation's policies in falsifying Palestinian history and exploiting antiquities to legitimize settlement expansion.