An Israeli soldier stands guard in front of the Dome of the Rock (AFP)

Additional Reporting By Mustafa el-Sawwaf

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, February 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – At least 24 Palestinians were injured Friday, February 27, when Israeli troops stormed Al-Aqsa mosque compound after the noon weekly prayers for which up to 35,000 worshippers had gathered.

The occupation troops fired rubber bullets, sound grenades and tear gas canisters to disperse the faithful.

The director general of the Islamic Waqfs (endowments) in Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem) denied Israeli claims that the troops opened their fire after they were hurled by stones.

Adnan Al-Husseini told Reuters news agency that the soldiers unjustifiably attacked the worshippers, adding Israel wanted to trigger a Muslim exodus from Al-Quds.

Palestinian medics told IslamOnlin.net that at least 24 Palestinians were rushed to the hospital in the immediate vicinity. Three Israeli soldiers were hurt in the assault.

The Israeli authorities had not imposed a lower age limit on worshippers at the mosque Friday as they usually do when they fear demonstrations.

The second Palestinian Intifada erupted in September 2000 after Ariel Sharon, Israel's opposition leader at the time and now Prime Minister, desiccate the compound of Islam’s third holiest place, which is at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Planned In-Advance

An injured Palestinian woman evacuated from the Al-Aqsa mosque compound (AFP)

Al-Quds Mufti Ekrema Sabri told IOL the sacrilege was planned in advance.

Palestinian Chief Judge Tayssir Al-Tamimi denounced the incident as a serious escalation and a blatant provocation.

“It is a bid to drag the Palestinians into clashes with the armed-to-the-teeth Israeli troops,” he told IOL.

Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, the imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque, urged the Palestinians to frequent the mosque “to fend off the occupation’s plots”.

A part of the road leading to one of the mosque’s main gates collapsed earlier in the month due to the ongoing Israeli excavations.

Archeologists said the ongoing Israeli excavations have already weakened the foundations of the mosque, cautioning it would not stand a powerful earthquake.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the Muslims’ first Qiblah [direction Muslims take during prayers] and it is the third holiest shrine after Al Ka'bah in Makkah and Prophet Muhammad's Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

Its significance has been reinforced by the incident of Al Isra'a and Al Mi'raj -- the night journey from Makkah to Al-Quds and the ascent to the Heavens by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

120 Stalls Razed 

Later Friday, Israeli occupation troops razed 120 Palestinian stalls near the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian security official told Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

“The occupation army has completely destroyed 120 shops,” said a spokesman from the office of Abdelrazeq Majaida, the head of general security in Gaza.

The stalls were located inside the terminal for Palestinian workers, about half a kilometer (less than a mile) from the border checkpoint, he said.

The incident came two days after Israeli occupation forces raided a number of banks in the West Bank, plundering up to $9 million in cash and detaining a number of employees.

In the West Bank, Israeli bulldozers reduced to rubble the two houses of Hamas activists Hassan Abu Shaira and Nael Jundiyah accused by Israel of being involved in a bus bomb in Al-Quds two years ago.

Two Israelis Killed

Meanwhile, two Israelis were shot dead Friday when Palestinian fighters opened fire on their car near the Green Line separating Israel from the West Bank.

“Initial details show that Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a civilian vehicle. Two people, a man and a woman, were critically injured and died soon afterwards,” an Israeli military source said.

The shooting took place just inside Israel, on a road close to the Green Line near the Eshkolot Jewish settlement, he said.

Both the victims' bodies and their car were found riddled with bullets and searches were under way in the southern West Bank for the gunmen, he added. 

The shooting came shortly after a Palestinian fighter blew himself up just outside the Kfar Darom Jewish settlement in central Gaza. No casualties were reported.  

The operation was claimed by Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad.