Israel continues to target worshippers at Al-Aqsa, Palestine issues warning

Ramallah: Even after a ceasefire brokered by the world leaders, the Israel security forces continued to resort to excessive force on Palestinians, particularly in East Jerusalem where worshippers inside Al-Aqsa Mosque are regularly facing violence.

Palestine warned against the attack on worshippers by the Israeli police, saying such unreasonable offence would unlikely settle the peace process and could lead to further incite to the conflict.

The warning issued by Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh here on Sunday after social media activists published short videos of Israeli police forces attacking Palestinian worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The Israeli government is fully responsible for sabotaging the efforts of ending the Israeli aggression," Abu Rudeineh said.

Renewing the measures against the Palestinians in East Jerusalem "would sabotage the international and Arab efforts to reconstruct what had been destroyed in the Gaza Strip", he added.

Meanwhile, Abu Rudeineh called on the US "to immediately intervene to stop the provocative Israeli actions and measures".

The Israeli police restricted Arab worshippers' movement in and around Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 10, stirring up tension and violence that soon expanded to the entire West Bank and Gaza. In response, militant groups in Gaza fired barrages of rockets towards Israel. Soon, Israeli fighter jets carried out dozens of airstrikes on the Palestinian coastal enclave.

A ceasefire came into force in the Gaza strip on May 21 after Egypt brokered an agreement between Israel and Hamas to halt 11 days of the conflict.