ISRAEL has been condemned for mounting a second brutal attack on worshippers at one of Islam’s holiest sites — the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), who were filmed on Tuesday using clubs and stun grenades to attack Palestinian worshippers, returned to the mosque on Wednesday for a repeat of the operation.

Human rights group Amnesty International UK said the second attack on al-Aqsa “illustrates the sheer brutality of Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.”

The al-Aqsa attacks and further Israeli violence in the West Bank have taken place since a coalition of right-wing and far-right Israeli political groupings led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took over the government of Israel.

During Tuesday night’s attack Israeli security forces arrested at least 450 Palestinians, about 50 of whom are still in detention.

Many were released barefoot, battered and bruised from Atarot Detention Centre, Amnesty said.

A lawyer told Amnesty that many detainees, including children, were interrogated and beaten in detention.

Wednesday’s attack began at 10.30pm shortly after evening prayers, with the IDF firing stun grenades and using rifle butts to beat worshippers gathered for Ramadan.

A 17-year-old worshipper told Amnesty how Israeli police beat him as they dragged him from the mosque.

“Twice I tried to raise my head and both times [the police] beat me with the butt of their guns on my head …you are not allowed to raise your head,” he said.

“I was hurting all over my body from the beatings and the bruises.

“Outside Atarot I saw others …what I went through does not even compare to the beatings that others faced.” 

Muhammed Fityani, from humanitarian group the Palestine Red Crescent Society, said: “One of our paramedics was directly assaulted and beaten, and two of our ambulances were targeted, one with rubber bullets.” 

Heba Morayef of Amnesty said: “Once again, the Israeli security forces have shown the world what apartheid looks like.

“These orchestrated attacks demonstrate just how far the Israeli authorities will go to maintain their cruel system of apartheid.

“Israeli security forces have now subjected Palestinian worshippers to two consecutive nights of horror and turned one of the holiest sites in Islam into a crime scene.

“We urge the international community to take immediate action to protect Palestinians from violent oppression, and to hold the Israeli authorities accountable for their crimes against international law.”

Palestine supporters will demonstrate in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens at noon on Saturday.