Gaza City, September 26 (RHC)-- Palestinians have continued to protest near the border fence between the besieged Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied territories for the 10th consecutive day against the Israeli settler incursions into the al-Aqsa Mosque complex.  On Monday, protesters waved Palestinian flags and set tires ablaze, amid chants condemning settler raids into the flashpoint site.

“We must live freely in Gaza like all other peoples around the world,” a protester, who gave his name as Youssef, said.  “The [Israeli] Occupation will pay the price for its blockade on Gaza and for incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque,” he added.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing medical officials, reported that a young Palestinian man was injured by live bullets, while dozens more suffered from tear gas inhalation as Israeli forces targeted peaceful marches in the eastern Gaza Strip.

Witnesses said Israeli soldiers stationed inside their military vehicles opened fire and fired toxic tear gas canisters at dozens of youths who demonstrated near the separation fence.

Earlier in the day, Jewish extremists stormed al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection and made a provocative tour of the compound’s courtyards as they marked the Yom Kippur holiday.  The settler incursion came in response to radical Jewish organizations calling on extremists to raid the holy Muslim site and perform rituals there as part of the Tel Aviv regime’s efforts to alter the status quo of the site.

Muslim groups and authorities have warned against Israeli attempts to divide the holy compound between Muslims and Jews in total disregard for the feelings of millions of Muslims worldwide.  Israeli settler incursions into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and violence against Palestinians have been on the rise since the hardline cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office last December.

Such mass settler break-ins almost always take place at the behest of Tel Aviv-backed temple groups and under the auspices of the Israeli police in al-Quds, leading to daily confrontations with Palestinians at the mosque, with many injured, arrested, and killed.

Non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited according to an agreement between Israel and Jordan following the regime’s seizure of East al-Quds in 1967.