TEHRAN-Tensions are simmering in occupied territories as Israeli forces terrorize worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site.

Palestinian Resistance chiefs meet in Beirut to discuss response.

For two consecutive days, verified footages show, Israeli troops storm the mosque and physically assault Palestinians attending prayers.

The troops can be seen repeatedly and viciously force women and men onto the ground with their batons and rifles. They also physically assault the worshippers by stamping on their bodies.

The screams of terrified onlookers, in particular women, can be heard in the background.

Other verified footage shows Israeli troops shooting stun grenades and live rounds in the mosque and its compounds.

They then proceed to violently drag the injured worshippers outside the compound and take them into custody.

Medical officials say at least 500 Palestinians sustained injuries. Palestinian officials say roughly another 500 Palestinians were kidnapped by the regime following the savage scenes.

In one scene an Israeli thug can be seen swiping his baton at a woman onlooker and breaking her arm.

What has been the response of the armed resistance?

Following the first day of the Israeli terror, the resistance movement in the besieged Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israeli settlements.

After a second day of similar terror scenes, explosions were heard in the Gaza Strip just after midnight on Friday as warplanes and drones roared overhead firing airstrikes for several hours.

The Palestinian resistance groups responded with a barrage of missiles. Sirens sounded across occupied settlements near Gaza throughout the night, with the occupation regime telling settlers to hide in shelters.

During the exchange of fire, the head of the media office of the Islamic Jihad Movement, Dawood Shehab, said Israeli bombings will be met with bombings.

The military wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, said its air defense systems were responding to Israeli warplanes with surface-to-air missiles.

What about the response of the Palestinian resistance chiefs?

The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, held a meeting with the secretary general of the Palestinian resistance factions in the Lebanese capital Beirut, calling on all factions to unify their ranks and escalate their resistance against the Zionist regime’s occupation.

During the meeting Haniyeh said "the priority today is to resist the occupation," pointing out that "national unity and resistance are the ways to achieve victory and defeat the Zionist project."

He discussed the ongoing aggression against the holy al-Aqsa Mosque by the occupation forces and the “herds of settlers”, who had also violated the mosque’s sanctity.

During a speech after the meeting, Haniyeh warned Israel against persisting in its aggression against al-Aqsa, stressing that it "poses a threat not only to Palestine, but to all Arab and Islamic countries as well."

Haniyeh added Palestinians "will not sit with their arms crossed" in the face of Israeli "aggression" against the al-Aqsa Mosque.

"Our Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance groups will not sit idly by" in the face of Israel's "savage aggression".

Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, has called on the resistance forces to be ready to respond to the enemy's provocations.

Al-Nakhalah warned that "the enemy's threats will not frighten us, but rather make us stronger and more cohesive." He called on the resistance groups in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to "be united in the face of any aggression, and our fighters in all places must be ready to respond."

What happened at the Lebanese border?

Dozens of rockets were launched from Lebanese territory towards the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli media confirmed that two rockets fell in a settlement, while Reuters quoted three Lebanese security sources as saying "Palestinian factions were behind the rocket attacks from Lebanon, not Hezbollah."

The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of Israel's escalatory intentions, which threaten regional and international peace and security, calling on the international community to "pressure Israel" to end the escalation.

Some reports suggest Israel responded by firing artillery into Southern Lebanon at the Palestinian refugee camps. Other reports have indicated that the sounds of explosions near Lebanon were actually Israeli anti-missile systems launched to intercept the rockets fired from the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Three settlers have reportedly been injured from the rocket fire from the Palestinian refugee camps.

The regime is wary of facing Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah and cannot afford to open up another front with the heavily armed resistance movement.

Israeli army spokesperson Richard Hecht told reporters, “We know for sure it's Palestinian fire, it could be Hamas, it could be Islamic Jihad, we are still trying to finalize but it wasn't Hezbollah."

On Friday, Israel said it had struck a Palestinian refugee camp in South Lebanon.

Israeli settlers’ hysteria

Following the rockets fired by Palestinian factions from Lebanon, Israeli media reported that Israeli settlers entered a state of hysteria in occupied territories, and they took the decision by themselves to open shelters.

The Israeli Channel 12 reported that "the opening of the shelters was not based on the recommendations of the Israeli Home Front Command," which shows the regime is caught in a political and security confusion.

"There is hysteria, we’re receiving news from all over (occupied Palestinian territories) about opening shelters," the channel said, adding that the settlers "made the decision to open the shelters themselves.”  

What about Hezbollah?

The Lebanese resistance movement has strongly condemned storming into the al-Aqsa Mosque, physical assaults on women and men, violation of the sanctity of the House of God, arrest of hundreds of worshipers, and clearing the space for settlers to enter and desecrate the mosque’s courtyards.

Hezbollah published a statement that said “what the occupation forces have done is a flagrant violation of the sanctity of believers and al-Quds (Jerusalem), affecting all Muslims, Christians, and free people in the world, and violating all religious, moral, and human values … It is also a blatant message to advocates of normalization from countries and governments about the true image of this enemy, its terrorism and criminality.”

Hezbollah has declared its "full solidarity with the Palestinian people and the resistance factions," saying "it stands by them in all the steps they take to protect the worshipers and al-Aqsa Mosque and deter the enemy from continuing its attacks."

Meanwhile, Hezbollah executive council chief Sayyad Hashim Safi al-Din said, “The Zionists should know that al-Aqsa Mosque is not alone, and that behind it is hundreds of millions of Muslims who are ready to shed blood for it.”

Western media stance

What happened in al-Aqsa were not “clashes” as Western mainstream media dishonestly reported. These were unprovoked attacks by Israeli forces against unarmed Palestinian women, men and medics during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and at a very holy site.

If these were Russian soldiers attacking Jewish worshippers at a synagogue, the last word the Western mainstream media would use is “clashes”.

This is pure terrorism by a colonial entity against the natives of a land, yet the so-called Western rights activists have kept silent.

It’s not only another example of double standards, but offers a clear picture of where Western governments really stand on the issue of human rights.