Israeli occupation forces shot and killed 15 year-old Palestinian Zaid Mohammad Ghuneim in the village of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem on Friday.
Qatar has condemned the “provocative” raid of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers on Sunday.
“Qatar condemns in the strongest terms the settlers’ storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and their performance of Talmudic rituals in its courtyards under the protection of the occupation police,” said Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
The Gulf state added that it considers the attacks a flagrant violation of international law. It also said it was part of Israel’s attempts to “impose a temporal division of the mosque.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns that the continuation of serious and provocative violations against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque clearly reveals the intention of the occupation to direct the conflict into a religious war.”
Unlike some of its neighbours, Qatar has refused to normalise ties with the apartheid state and renewed its commitment to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) adopted the initiative, which states that members shall refrain from normalising ties with Israel until it fully withdraws from lands occupied in 1967.
Flag march in Jerusalem
Hundrerds of Israeli settlers protected by the Zionist state verbally and physically assaulted Palestinians at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, as part of their violent flag march.
Settlers use the march to celebrate Israel’s illegal occupation of Jerusalem in 1967.
According to Palestine’s news agency (WAFA), settlers insulted Prophet Mohammad while chanting racist slogans, calling for the death of Arabs. It also stated that at least 24 Palestinians have been injured by the attacks carried out by the Israeli occupation forces and settlers in Jerusalem.
Palestinians were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets, beatings, and pepper spray. Eight cases have also been transferred to hospitals.
One viral video of a settler also showed him clapping and yelling at Palestinians,“no more Shireen,” mocking the killing of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
The veteran correspondent was widely known as the voice of Palestinians and was killed on 11 May by an Israeli sniper.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesperson, said that “Israel considers itself above the law.”
“All the Israeli measures in occupied Jerusalem are in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions, which consider Jerusalem to be part of the territories occupied since 1967,” said Abu Rudeineh.
Responding to the Israeli flag march, indigenous Palestinian people waved Palestine’s flags in different parts of Palestine. Occupation forces were quick to attack the Palestinian march, arresting at least 25 citizens in Jerusalem, as WAFA reported.
Israel has intensified its attacks on Palestinians since the beginning of the year, conducting mass arrests and almost daily killings of the indigenous population.
The Palestinian prisoner advocacy group reported last week that Israeli occupation forces detained 1,228 Palestinians during April alone, including 165 minors. This was the highest number of arrests since the beginning of the year.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor had also revealed last month that the total killings witnessed since the start of the year is nearly five times the number reported in the same period last year.
On Friday, Israeli occupation forces shot and killed 15 year-old Palestinian Zaid Mohammad Ghuneim in village of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem. Witnesses said that the Israeli soldiers fired multiple live bullets at the teenager.
According to WAFA, citing the EU, five Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces in May alone. Israel has killed 13 Palestinian children so far this year.