Al-Aqsa Mosque raid: How a night of worship became a night of Israeli brutality

Footage of heavily armed Israeli soldiers smashing their batons and guns down on cowering Palestinian worshippers in Al-Aqsa Mosque’s Al-Qibli prayer hall during Ramadan sparked outrage worldwide on Wednesday morning.

The reality, said Abdullah Jaber, a teenager from Jerusalem who was assaulted in the prayer hall and detained by Israeli forces on Tuesday night, was much, much worse.

“They kept us on the ground, handcuffed, for a long time, and anyone who raised his head was hit with a gun,” Jaber told Middle East Eye.

Jaber described the terrifying moment the Israelis forced their way into the holy site in occupied East Jerusalem where Palestinians were practising the contemplative prayer of Itikaf.

Stun grenades and teargas were fired into the thousand-year-old building, before soldiers threw Palestinians to the ground, stamped on them, and bound their hands forcefully behind their backs.

*HERE are some photos that show some of the horror of that night of Zionist terror.