Israeli occupation forces on Friday night shot dead a Palestinian young man in Al-Aqsa Mosque while he was trying to re-enter the holy site after being removed.
This came after Israeli occupation forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and evacuated most of the Palestinian worshippers remaining inside.
At the same site of the killing, eyewitnesses stated they saw the Israeli occupation police assaulting a Palestinian woman who was also attempting to re-enter the mosque.
Local Palestinian media reported that the young man, identified as Mohammed Khaled Elasibi, a 26-year-old resident of the Bedouin town of Hura in Al-Naqab, attempted to protect the woman assaulted by the Israeli police. Palestinian sources reported that he had just finished medical school.
Palestinian witnesses say that Mohammed Khaled Alasibi, an Arab citizen of Israel who had just finished medical school, was shot dead by Israeli police at close range while intervening in an argument between officers and a Palestinian in Jerusalem. https://t.co/oeJDLKCgyv
— Shibley Telhami (@ShibleyTelhami) April 1, 2023
The story of the Israeli police that Elasibi grabbed their gun has often been used to justify police killings and is not borne out by eyewitness testimony. The police deny that there was any security footage of the shooting, even though that area of Jerusalem is thick with public cameras.
A young man from southern Israel was shot & killed by Police last night in the Old City, Jerusalem. Contrary to the headline, @nirhasson says Police version is not persuasive.
Mohammed Alasibi had just graduated from medical schoolhttps://t.co/4HjTHbCPGP— ג'סיקה – جيسيكا – Jessica 🟣 (@JessicaMontell) April 1, 2023
Israeli police claimed in a statement that the young man tried to grab a soldier’s weapon and was subsequently shot and “neutralised”.
An eyewitness confirmed he heard 20 gunshots fired in less than a minute, leaving one man wounded on the floor near Bab Al-Silsila Gate.
The administration of Al-Aqsa Mosque said that about 250,000 Palestinians performed the second Friday prayer there, while hundreds stayed inside the mosque.
One of the few Palestinians who stayed at the mosque told local Palestinian media that the Israeli occupation forces stormed the sanctuary yards and forced most worshippers out.
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