JERUSALEM, May 12, 2025 (WAFA) – The guards of Al-Aqsa Mosque Monday thwarted an attempt by colonists to bring an "animal sacrifice" into its courtyards through Bab al-Ghawanmeh.

Local sources reported that colonists stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque through Bab al-Ghawanmeh—one of its gates—in possession of a small lamb. Al-Aqsa guards pursued them and thwarted their attempt to offer it in Al-Aqsa on the second Passover holiday.

594 colonists stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque today, performing provocative Talmudic rituals in its courtyards, amid restrictions on worshippers.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Governorate condemned in a statement the attempt to slaughter an animal sacrifice inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, which it considers a dangerous development that cannot be ignored.

The Governorate warned that a group of extremist colonists attempted this morning to smuggle a small lamb into Al-Aqsa Mosque for the purpose of slaughtering it inside its courtyards, in a criminal attempt to violate the sanctity of the holiest site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina.

It reported that three settlers managed to smuggle a sheep hidden inside a cloth bag through the Ghawanmeh Gate, in an attempt to slaughter the sacrifice according to Talmudic rituals.

K.T