5 martyrs, most of them children and young people, dozens of arrests, an imposed siege on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and continuous raids on the mosque. These were the most prominent features of what Beit Al-Maqdis News Agency monitored about the state of Jerusalem during the first month of the year 2024, which coincides with the entry of the occupation’s aggression against the Gaza Strip and the Battle of (Al-Aqsa Flood) into their fourth month.

5 martyrs, including two girls


The Beit Iksa checkpoint, which separates the towns of Al-Jib and Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem, was scheduled for the rise of the first martyrs of Jerusalem during the year 2024. On January 7, the occupation forces present at the checkpoint fired live bullets at citizens’ vehicles, claiming that they had carried out an operation in the place to raise all of them. The spouses: Duha and Muhammad Abu Eid, and the child Ruqaya al-Jahalin (Abu Dohuk), whose body was buried 9 days after his detention, while the occupation continued to detain the bodies of Muhammad and Ruqaya.

On 1/14/2024, the boy Suleiman Kanaan, from the town of Kafr Aqab, whose family lives in Birzeit, was martyred during confrontations with the occupation forces at the northern entrance to the city of Al-Bireh. Suleiman’s mother said that her son was deeply affected by what was happening in Gaza.

On the land of Gaza, the child martyr, Jinan Abu Sneina, suffered from the occupation’s bombing of a house she was in in Gaza, on 1/22/2024, and Jinan, the daughter of the Jerusalemite prisoner freed in the “Loyalty of the Free” deal and deported to the Gaza Strip, Shuaib Abu Sneineh, who and his family survived the bombing. A previous occupation targeted them on 10/12/2023.

3,368 settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque


The daily rate of those invading Al-Aqsa ranged between 120 to 160 settlers, and among the specific incursions into the mosque was a storm called for by the family of the slain occupation soldier in the Gaza Strip, “Israel School,” one of the most prominent activists of the “Temple Mount in Our Hands” organization, on 1/30/2024. During which Jewish prayers and eulogies were recited, this was preceded by the extremist, the godfather of the Al-Aqsa raids, Yehuda Glick, on 1/2/2024, reciting the Biblical prayers, “blessing” the marriage of newlyweds after they stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The siege on Al-Aqsa Mosque continues and there are calls to break the siege on it


67 thousand worshipers were able to perform Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa during the past month, and it is worth noting that Al-Aqsa Mosque is still suffering from the occupation’s siege since 10/7/2023, as the number of Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa ranged between 50 and 60 thousand worshipers.

The number of Friday worshipers in Al-Aqsa Mosque ranged between 12 and 13 thousand worshipers, in conjunction with calls to break the siege on the mosque, as the first weeks of the occupation’s aggression against the Gaza Strip recorded a sharp decline in the number of Friday worshipers in Al-Aqsa, and the numbers reached 4,000 at times.

The occupation demolishes 13 facilities


The Israeli occupation authorities continued to implement the demolition policy against Jerusalemites and their facilities. During the past month, the occupation’s pretext for demolishing all Jerusalemites’ facilities was “construction without a permit.” The occupation was keen to implement the “self-demolition” policy by pushing Jerusalemites to demolish their homes themselves to avoid paying the demolition costs, according to what was reported by the Israeli occupation authorities. Director of the Jerusalem Center for Economic and Social Rights, Ziad Al-Hamouri, said that the occupation demolished 13 facilities in Jerusalem during the past month, including 10 residential facilities, and 3 agricultural and commercial facilities.


107 detainees and 3 prisoners embrace freedom

The occupation forces arrested 107 Jerusalemites, including detainees who were released, including those who were transferred to administrative detention. One of the most prominent arrest campaigns in Jerusalem during the month of January was the occupation forces’ raid on Jabal Mukaber and their arrest of 21 Jerusalemites on 1/4/2024.

In the same context, 3 Jerusalemite prisoners were freed during the month of January 2024. They are: Judy Abu Aisha, from the town of Kafr Aqab, north of Jerusalem, after 7 years of captivity, and Saleh Abu Al-Homs, from the town of Al-Issawiya, north of Jerusalem, after 20 months of captivity. Omar Majed Ghaith, from the town of Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem, after 32 months of captivity.

Daily confrontation and engagement points


The Palestinian Information Center (Ma'ta) documented 38 points of clashes and confrontations with the occupation in Jerusalem, concentrated in Silwan, Jabal Mukaber, and Shuafat Camp, and shots were fired at the occupation forces once during the past month.