Earlier Tuesday, Israeli occupation municipality demolished a Jerusalemite apartment, two rooms, and four stores in Silwan town to the south of al-Aqsa Mosque.
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Marzieh Afkham, while slamming the escalation of tensions and attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque, said that such moves are directly supported and guided by Tel Aviv regime.
The council also called on the global community to adopt a single definition of “terrorism” and to refrain from employing “double standards” when describing the acts of the Israeli army.
On Sunday, roughly 140 settlers, accompanied by about 40 Israeli security personnel, forced their way into the iconic mosque compound, triggering clashes with Palestinian Muslim worshipers.
Dozens of Palestinian worshipers were injured in the process, some with rubber coated steel bullets.
More than 250 settlers broke into the mosque from Al Magharba gate.
“I call upon all religious and political leaders to prevent extremist elements from abusing the sanctity of holy sites”, he declared.
Al-Aqsa is the Muslims’ first Qiblah [direction Muslims take during prayers] and it is the third holiest shrine after Al Ka’bah in Makkah and Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
No serious injuries were reported at the site, which lies in the Israeli-occupied walled Old City and is revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount where two temples once stood.
Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its indivisible and eternal capital, a claim not recognised internationally.
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“The UK is deeply concerned by reports that planning for 1,065 settlement units is being advanced, including possible retrospective approval of buildings without permits or on private Palestinian land” UK Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood said in a statement.
