OIC strongly condemns continuous storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist Jewish settlers

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued a statement Thursday strongly condemning the continuous storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist settler groups.

Thousands of far-right Israelis gathered in occupied East Jerusalem earlier in the day for the annual “flag day” march, which took place this year amid heightened tensions.

In its statement, the OIC expressed its strong condemnation “for the storming and desecrating of the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist settler groups, ministers in the Israeli occupation government and members of the Knesset under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces and performing their racist Talmudic rituals in its courtyards.”

Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev was among the people with Israeli flags at the Damascus Gate Square.

Far-right Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Likud Party deputies Ariel Kallner and Dan Illouz joined extremist settlers who stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The OIC also called it a “flagrant violation” of the Geneva Conventions and international law.

“The OIC also denounced the so-called ‘flag march’ organized by settlement associations inside the neighborhoods of the occupied city of Al-Quds, stressing that the city forms an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967,” the statement said.

“It is also the capital of the State of Palestine, and all decisions and procedures taken by the Israeli occupation to Judaize it have no legal effect and are considered null and void under international law and resolutions of international legitimacy.”

The organization also held the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of the continuation of these systematic attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that the attacks are a “provocation to the feelings of Muslims all over the world” and “would fuel religious conflict, extremism and instability in the region.”

The OIC General Secretariat urged the international community to intervene and put an end to the Israeli violations and preserve the historical and legal status of Islamic and Christian sanctities in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

The “flag march” is staged by Israeli settlers every year to mark what they call the unification of Jerusalem in reference to Israel’s occupation of the city in 1967.

The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf in a statement said around 1,262 fanatical Jews forced their way into the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents Islam’s third-holiest site. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.