Anadolu Agency Journalists Assaulted By Israeli Forces

Anadolu Agency's Middle East News Editor Turgut Alp Boyraz was injured on Monday in an Israeli police raid at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.

Boyraz was shot in the leg with two plastic bullets.

He was the fourth Anadolu Agency journalist attacked by the Israeli police. Earlier, Anadolu Agency correspondent Esat Firat, and two photographers were targeted while covering the forces' attacks on worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Fayez Abu Rumaila, an Anadolu Agency photojournalist in occupied East Jerusalem, said he was brutally attacked by Israeli occupation forces while covering clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

Abu Rumaila said he was doing his job at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the morning before heading to a field clinic to photograph Palestinians injured during the clashes.

"Israeli police forces stormed the clinic and attacked us brutally," he said, noting that he had bruises all over his body.

Israeli forces "put me in a corner and assaulted me with rifle butts, batons, hands and legs ... and threw me under their feet on the ground," the photojournalist recalled.

Abu Rumaila continued: "The soldiers kept assaulting me until an officer came and took me from their hands ... I told them that I am a journalist, but they kept beating me everywhere."

For his part, Mustafa Kharouf, another Anadolu Agency photojournalist, said he was hit by a rubber bullet in the chest while he was providing aid to an injured medic.

Kharouf said Israeli forces pushed them outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, adding that when he left Jerusalem's Old City and headed towards his vehicle near the wall of Al-Rahma Cemetery, he found a medic injured by a stun grenade shrapnel.

"The injured paramedic was lying next to his car, so I tried to fulfill the humanitarian call and provided aid to him," Kharouf said.

"I began calling for paramedics near him to rescue their wounded colleague until a soldier shot me with a rubber bullet in my chest," he said.



Anadolu Agency urges Israel to respect human rights, law, journalism

Anadolu Agency Director General Serdar Karagoz on Twitter criticized the Israeli police's mistreatment of the agency staff.

"Our cameraman Fayez Abu Rumaila was attacked by Israeli police while he was recording the injustices taking place in Jerusalem," Karagoz said.

"I urge Israeli officials to act with respect for human rights, the law, and journalism," he stressed.

According to the Palestine Red Crescent, at least 305 people were injured on Monday as Israeli forces fired rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at Palestinians who were on guard to prevent possible raids by extremist Jews.

Tensions have run high in the Sheikh Jarrah area since last week as Israeli settlers swarmed in after an Israeli court ordered the eviction of Palestinian families.

Palestinians protesting in solidarity with the residents of Sheikh Jarrah have been targeted by Israeli forces.​​​​​​​

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed the entire city in 1980 – a move that has never been recognized by the international community.
 

 





*Writing by Seda Sevencan in Istanbul. -