CPJ: At least 8 journalists injured in Jerusalem violence

Anadolu Agency’s Middle East News Editor Turgut Alp Poyraz receives medical treatment at Makassed Hospital after he was injured from his leg with 2 rubber bullets in an attack by the Israeli police on Muslim worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque on May 11, 2021 in Jerusalem. [Mustafa Deveci – Anadolu Agency]

Israeli security forces injured at least eight journalists covering the violent protests in East Jerusalem, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Anadolu Agency reported.

They included freelance reporters, photojournalists and Anadolu Agency reporters, who suffered injuries between Friday and Monday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the committee said Tuesday.

“Journalists should be able to cover demonstrations in Jerusalem without fearing that Israeli security forces will recklessly shoot them with rubber bullets,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa representative Ignacio Miguel Delgado Culebras.

He called for Israeli authorities to investigate all attacks on journalists by security personnel and hold those responsible to account.

Turgut Alp Boyraz, Anadolu Agency‘s editor in-chief of Middle East and Africa News, photographer Mustafa al-Kharouf and cameraman Fayez Abu Rumaila were at the scene of the disproportionate use of force on Palestinian protestors.

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Israeli police fired rubber bullets that hit Boyraz in his left leg, al-Kharouf in the back, and Abu Rumaila in his right leg.

Tensions have been running high in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem since last week, when an Israeli court ordered the eviction of Palestinian families. The decision was later delayed.

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

Israeli forces also raided Al-Aqsa Mosque last Friday during special night prayers for the fasting month of Ramadan.

The subsequent escalation of tensions resulted in airstrikes by Israel on Gaza which have left scores dead and hundreds wounded.

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

READ: Israel flares the situation in Gaza to shift attention from Sheikh Jarrah eviction

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