Israeli occupation forces killed a young Palestinian man outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound early Saturday, the official WAFA news agency reported.
The man, identified as 26-year-old Mohammad Khaled al-Osaibi, was from the town of Houra in the Naqab desert.
Israeli forces claimed that al-Osaibi, who graduated from medical school in Romania and recently passed an exam to practice medicine in Israel, was trying to wrest a weapon from an Israeli officer when he was shot and killed.
However, local sources and eyewitnesses speaking to the Arabic joint site The New Arab Al-Araby Al-Jadeed denied Israeli police claims that the slain man carried the weapon.
The sources said that the man was shot outside the Chain Gate (Bab Al-Silsila) after he intervened as Israeli police tried to arrest a girl inside the mosque compound.
Israeli occupation forces shot a Palestinian man with at least 20 bullets while trying to save a woman from an attack by police forces at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, according to eyewitnesses. pic.twitter.com/3pyVvh7nTe
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) March 31, 2023
The man was scuffling with the officers when he was shot, the sources said.
After the shooting, a large number of Israeli soldiers came to the mosque – the third holiest site in Islam – and besieged part of it, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.
Israeli forces also closed the entrance and exit to the Old City, where they attacked shopkeepers and stall owners.
The incident happened during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when thousands of Palestinians go to the compound for prayers – especially on Friday, the holiest day of the week in Islam.
More than 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in East Jerusalem and the West Bank since the beginning of the year.
(PC, The New Arab)