Doha, Media & Communication Dept., April 5, 2023

The State of Qatar condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation forces’ storming and vandalism of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, assaulting worshipers inside, preventing ambulances from reaching the injured and evacuating the worshippers in Al-Qibli prayer hall, imposing restrictions on the mosque’s gates and preventing Palestinians from entering.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers these brutal criminal practices a serious escalation and a blatant infringement of the holy places, an extension of the policy of Judaizing Jerusalem, a violation of international law and resolutions of international legitimacy, and a provocation to the feelings of more than two billion Muslims in the world, especially in the blessed month of Ramadan.

The Ministry reminds that Jerusalem is an occupied city according to international law, and therefore the responsibility for caring for the worshippers’ rights guaranteed by international and humanitarian conventions, not to mention the assault on them and the Islamic and Christian sanctities in the city, falls exclusively on the Israeli occupation forces. In this context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns against introducing any changes to the historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem and its sanctities. It also holds the occupation authorities solely responsible for the cycle of violence that will result from their systematic policies against the rights of the Palestinian people, and urges the international community to take urgent action to stop these measures.

The Ministry reiterates the firm position of the State of Qatar on the justice of the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, including the full right to practice their religious rituals without restrictions, and to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.