Settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque amid series of IOF attacks in West Bank
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Dozens of Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of Israeli forces, while occupation forces escalate arrests and assaults across the West Bank, injuring civilians and demolishing homes.
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Israeli occupation soldiers invade a Palestinian village next to the West Bank settlement of Bruchin on May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied al-Quds on Tuesday, under the protection of Israeli occupation police.
According to local sources, dozens of settlers entered the compound in organized groups, conducting provocative tours of the courtyards and performing rituals, all under heavy occupation guard. Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army intensified its operations.
بحماية من قوات الاحتلال .. قطعان المستوطنين يؤدون طقوساً تلمودية خلال اقتحامهم المسجد الأقصى المبارك pic.twitter.com/SIBeW9JICB
— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) May 20, 2025
At least 10 Palestinians were detained overnight in the Beit Lahm Governorate during a series of raids.
Israeli forces also stormed the Old Askar refugee camp east of Nablus, as part of a wider campaign of arrests and military incursions targeting towns and refugee camps across the West Bank.
In the south, settlers attacked a Palestinian man and his wife in the Masafer Yatta area, south of al-Khalil, leaving both injured.
قوات الاحتلال تعيق عمل الصحفيين والطواقم الطبية خلال الاقتحام المستمر لمخيم عسكر القديم شرق نابلس. pic.twitter.com/T3AkfVRxgR
— فلسطين بوست (@PalpostN) May 20, 2025
The assault is part of a broader and ongoing pattern of settler violence in Area C of the West Bank.
The violence comes just a day after Israeli forces carried out additional detentions and demolished several Palestinian homes in other parts of the West Bank, measures widely seen as part of an escalating campaign of aggression across the occupied territories, in parallel with the ongoing war on Gaza.
Ongoing attacks on West Bank
On Monday, the Israeli occupation military continued to raid cities in the occupied West Bank and the surrounding refugee camps, as Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, and other areas witnessed incursions and arrests from the early hours of Yesterday morning until evening.
Occupation forces raided the village of Madma, south of Nablus in the West Bank, for the second time today. Earlier, the IOF stormed the Balata refugee camp in Nablus and detained two youths: Mohammed al-Houtari and Momen al-Maskawi.
Israeli forces also detained three Palestinians in Tulkarm and raided the towns of Silwad and Turmus Ayya in Ramallah district, arrested a Palestinian at a military checkpoint near Beit Lahm's Tuqu’, and detained three more in al-Khalil.
Several Palestinians suffered from tear gas inhalation during an Israeli military raid on the town of al-Khader, south of Beit Lahm, after soldiers fired stun grenades and toxic gas at protesters.
Israeli troops entered their fourth consecutive day of operations in Bruqin, northern West Bank, imposing a total lockdown and commandeering multiple civilian homes as makeshift military bases.
