Qatar has expressed its condemnation in the strongest terms of the storming of the Al Aqsa Mosque by hundreds of Israeli settlers in the early hours on Sunday, and the injuries to many worshipers caused by the aggression of Israeli occupation forces.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the Israeli attacks on the right to worship and the practice of religious rites are a clear provocation to the feelings of Muslims around the world, and warned of repercussions of those illegal actions on the region and the world at large.

Calling on the international community to carry out its moral and legal responsibilities to stop the repeated Israeli attacks on Al Aqsa mosque and religious shrines in Palestine, the statement urged them to provide the necessary protection for Muslim worshipers to exercise their natural right to worship at Al Aqsa Mosque.

A number of Palestinian Muslim worshippers were injured by Israeli police who were escorting Jewish settlers on a tour of the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.

Some 400 Jewish settlers entered the flashpoint compound, one of Islam's holiest places, before the police scuffled with worshipers who expressed their anger at the entry of settlers, said (WAFA) news agency.

Israeli police assaulted many of the worshipers, arrested some and chased others through the compound and attacked them with teargas and stun grenades.

Israeli police rarely allow Jewish prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque during the last ten days of the holy month of Ramadan when tens of thousands of Muslims converge on the holy site for worship.

On Saturday, some Jewish organisations called upon fans to organise visits to the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque in the city to mark what Israelis claim as the reunification of Jerusalem.

Reuters adds from Jerusalem: The highly provocative visit by hundreds of ultra-nationalist Jews guarded by riot police into the Jerusalem compound resulted in violence between police and outraged Muslim worshipers.

One Palestinian man suffered a head injury, while others were treated from gas inhalation inside the compound, a medic from the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The director of the Al Aqsa mosque, Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, said the action by the Jewish groups broke with the status quo of the Israeli authorities not allowing such visits in the last 10 days of Ramadan.

But yesterday coincided with Israel's annual Jerusalem Day, when Jewish pilgrims, including ultra-nationalists walk through the complex under heavy Israeli guard.

Kiswani said the visit of what he described as up to 800 Jewish "extremists" had not been coordinated with the Muslim authorities at the compound and accused riot police of attacking worshippers.

Israeli police said they had taken "security measures after disturbances by Arabs".

On Friday, tens of thousands of Muslims attended prayers at Al Aqsa mosque, hearing a message of defiance against Israeli control of the venue.

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