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Palestinian Foreign Ministry Denounces Targeting of Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Al-Aqsa mosque reflects in a puddle next to a gate to the compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as The Noble Sanctuary, in Jerusalem's Old City December 27, 2019. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The Al-Aqsa mosque reflects in a puddle next to a gate to the compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as The Noble Sanctuary, in Jerusalem's Old City December 27, 2019. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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Palestinian Foreign Ministry Denounces Targeting of Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Al-Aqsa mosque reflects in a puddle next to a gate to the compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as The Noble Sanctuary, in Jerusalem's Old City December 27, 2019. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The Al-Aqsa mosque reflects in a puddle next to a gate to the compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as The Noble Sanctuary, in Jerusalem's Old City December 27, 2019. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates (MOFAE) denounced on Sunday the storming of the Dome of the Rock a day after preventing the Al-Aqsa Mosque Reconstruction Committee from conducting maintenance works in El-Marwani Mosque.

Israeli forces on Sunday broke into Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound and prevented staff from repairing marble and internal struts inside the Dome of the Rock.

Bassam Al-Hallaq, head of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Reconstruction Committee, said that a number of Israeli soldiers stormed the Dome of the Rock and threatened staff with arrest or banishment if they continued the maintenance works.

On Saturday, Israeli troops prevented the Al-Aqsa Mosque Reconstruction Committee from conducting maintenance works in El-Marwani Mosque, he added.

For years, the Israeli authorities have been hindering several essential maintenances and repairing in Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound.

In a statement on Sunday, MOFA decried the flagrant targeting of Al-Aqsa and its vicinity.

It held the occupation’s cabinet responsible for the ongoing aggression on the Mosque, which is seen as a provocation of Arab and Muslim sentiments.

The ministry warned of consequences, considering these practices as an Israeli attempt to drag the region into a religious conflict.

MOFA demanded that the specialized international organizations including UNESCO bear ethical and legal liability towards the continuous aggressions on Christian and Islamic sacred sites in Jerusalem.

The ministry urged a prompt action to protect Al-Aqsa from the plots of demolition and division, stressing that it is coordinating with the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate to reinforce efforts to protect the sacred sites namely Al-Aqsa.

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Arab World

Gaza's Islamic Jihad Says Israeli Hostage Tried to Take Own Life

File photo: Palestinians gather at the scene where senior commander of Islamic Jihad militant group Khaled Mansour was killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
File photo: Palestinians gather at the scene where senior commander of Islamic Jihad militant group Khaled Mansour was killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Gaza's Islamic Jihad Says Israeli Hostage Tried to Take Own Life

File photo: Palestinians gather at the scene where senior commander of Islamic Jihad militant group Khaled Mansour was killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
File photo: Palestinians gather at the scene where senior commander of Islamic Jihad militant group Khaled Mansour was killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

An Israeli hostage held by Gaza's Islamic Jihad militant group has tried to take his own life, the spokesperson for the movement's armed wing said in a video posted on Telegram on Thursday.
One of the group's medical teams intervened and prevented him from dying, the Al Quds Brigades spokesperson added, without going into any more detail on the hostage's identity or current condition, Reuters reported.
Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Militants led by Gaza's ruling Hamas movement killed 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage in an attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas ally Islamic Jihad also took part in the assault.
The military campaign that Israel launched in response has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to health officials in the coastal enclave.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza said the hostage had tried to take his own life three days ago due to his psychological state, without going into more details.
Abu Hamza accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of setting new conditions that had led to "the failure and delay" of negotiations for the hostage's release.
The man had been scheduled to be released with other hostages under the conditions of the first stage of an exchange deal with Israel, Abu Hamza said. He did not specify when the man had been scheduled to be released or under which deal.
Arab mediators' efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to conclude a ceasefire in Gaza, under a possible deal that would also see the release of Israeli hostages in return for the freedom of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Islamic Jihad's armed wing had issued a decision to tighten the security and safety measures for the hostages, Abu Hamza added.
In July, Islamic Jihad's armed wing said some Israeli hostages had tried to kill themselves after it started treating them in what it said was the same way that Israel treated Palestinian prisoners.
"We will keep treating Israeli hostages the same way Israel treats our prisoners," Abu Hamza said at that time. Israel has dismissed accusations that it mistreats Palestinian prisoners.