Tensions were mounting in East Jerusalem between Palestinian residents, Israeli settlers and Israeli security forces long before October. Since January 2014, the Israeli Ministry of Housing has demolished over 300 houses and recently confiscated over 29 apartments handed over to right-wing Israeli settlers after forcing Palestinians families out of their homes in neighborhoods such as Silwan. Meanwhile, at the al-Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary) specifically, Israeli forces raided the al-Aqsa mosque almost every month since the start of 2014, blocked worshippers from visiting both the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque on several occasions, including during the holy month of Ramadan. This was done either as a collective punishment or to close off the premise so that right-wing settler groups and Israeli parliamentarians could tour the 35-acre compound. In addition, without international scrutiny, Israel engaged in numerous excavations, digging up twenty tunnels around the mosque, allowing it to expand the Western Wall.
