Israeli forces kill Palestinian worker as settlers raid Al-Aqsa compound

SALEM: Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian construction worker near Al-Ram north of Jerusalem on Sunday, while Israeli settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem under police protection and raised Israeli flags near the Dome of the Rock.

The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah identified the man as 26-year-old Imad Haroun Ashtiyeh. It said he was killed by Israeli gunfire near Al-Ram. Omer, a relative who gave only his first name, said Ashtiyeh, from the village of Salem near Nablus, had tried to climb the separation barrier with several other men in an effort to reach Tel Aviv for work.

According to his relative, Ashtiyeh was shot as he tried to cross. An AFP journalist saw his body wrapped in a Palestinian flag at the Ramallah medical complex, where relatives were mourning. The Palestinian Authority press office said on X that Israeli occupation forces killed a Palestinian man seeking work while crossing the annexation and apartheid wall.

Al-Ram, near the Qalandiya checkpoint, is cut off from Jerusalem by a section of the barrier fitted with barbed wire. The Israeli military and police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israeli security officials say many Palestinians from the West Bank try to enter Israel by climbing over the barrier. Palestinian officials say they are driven by economic hardship and the loss of work permits since the October 2023 attacks.

The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions said Ashtiyeh was the fifth Palestinian killed while trying to cross into Israel this year and the 52nd since Oct 7, 2023. Israel started building the barrier during the second Palestinian intifada that began in 2002, saying it was needed for security after suicide bombings in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities. The barrier extends into parts of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Israel tightly controls movement for the West Bank’s roughly three million residents, who need special permits to pass checkpoints into East Jerusalem and Israel. Violence has intensified sharply in the Palestinian territory since the war in Gaza began. According to AFP figures based on Palestinian health ministry data, at least 1,075 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since October 2023. Israeli official figures show that at least 46 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, were killed in attacks or military operations in the West Bank over the same period.

Jordan condemns Al-Aqsa raid

Separately on Sunday, a group of Israeli settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound from Al-Maghrabah Gate, which is fully controlled by Israeli authorities, Arab News reported. They raised Israeli flags on the steps leading to the Dome of the Rock, while chanting and singing the Israeli national anthem under police protection.

Jordan condemned what it called the settlers’ storming of the mosque. Petra news agency reported that Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs renewed its absolute rejection and strong condemnation of the continued incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli settlers. The ministry described the move as "provocative and reckless".

Al-Aqsa, Islam’s third-holiest site, has repeatedly seen clashes, including settler raids and restrictions on Muslim worshippers, since East Jerusalem was occupied in June 1967. The mosque is administered by Jordan’s Ministry of Awqaf, which holds legal authority over management of the compound and access control. Jordan also warned against what it said were efforts by settlers to impose a new reality that would temporally and spatially divide the site.