Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem before dawn on Friday, while thousands gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Doctors said at least 152 Palestinians were injured.
The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions have escalated amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year sparked an 11-day war with Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.
The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. This year’s Ramadan coincides with Easter, a major weekly Jewish holiday beginning on a Friday at sunset, and a Christian holy week culminating in Easter. The festivities are expected to bring tens of thousands of believers to the Old City of Jerusalem, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.
Hours after the clashes began, police said they had ended the violence and arrested “hundreds” of suspects. The mosque was reopened and about 60,000 people attended the main Friday prayers at noon, according to the Islamic Foundation, which administers the site.
After prayers, thousands of Palestinians marched around the esplanade, chanting “with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Al-Aqsa”, in addition to slogans in support of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. Some carried Palestinian flags and Hamas flags.
Israeli authorities said they had held talks with Muslim leaders before the outbreak of violence to ensure peace of mind. However, police say Palestinians have stored rocks and other items in the complex and thrown stones at the Mugrabi Gate, which leads to the Western Wall – a major Jewish holy site – causing violence.
Palestinian witnesses, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said a small group of Palestinians threw stones at police, who then entered the complex, causing a wider fire.
Videos circulating online show Palestinians throwing stones and fireworks, and police firing tear gas and stunning grenades at the vast eplanade around the mosque. Others showed worshipers barricading themselves in the mosque.
Later in the morning, Israeli police entered the mosque itself. Israeli security forces rarely enter the building, and when they do, Palestinians see this as a major escalation.
Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday. (Mahmoud Ilyin / Associated Press)
The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Service said it was treating 152 people, many of whom were wounded by rubberized bullets or stunning grenades or beaten with batons. According to the gift, one of the security guards of the site was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.
Israeli police said three police officers were injured in a “mass stone throwing” and two were evacuated from the scene of the incident for treatment.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said dozens of masked men carrying Palestinian flags and Hamas flags marched to the complex before dawn on Friday, collecting stones and other items in anticipation of unrest.
“Police were forced to enter the area to disperse the crowd and remove stones and rocks to prevent further violence,” Twitter said.
The Palestinians see any major police deployment in Al-Aqsa as a major provocation.
The tension is high after a series of attacks
Israeli National Security Minister Omer Barlev, who heads the police force, said Israel “has no interest” in violence at the shrine, but that police have been forced to confront “violent elements” who attack them with stones and metal. rods. He said Israel is committed to freedom of worship for both Jews and Muslims.
Speaking at a holiday meeting with security officials, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said authorities were “working to calm things down on the Temple Mount and throughout Israel. At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario.”
The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It was built on top of a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is the holiest place for the Jews, who call it the Temple Mount. It has been a major hotbed of Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the Palestinian intifada or uprising of 2000-2005.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks following a series of Palestinian attacks that killed 14 people in Israel. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations in the occupied West Bank, sparking clashes with Palestinians.
Thor Weneland, the UN envoy for the Middle East peace process, who stopped more than a decade ago, called on Israeli and Palestinian authorities to “immediately de-escalate the situation and prevent any further provocations by radical actors.”
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said a 17-year-old died early Friday from injuries sustained during clashes with Israeli forces in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, the day before.
Doctors evacuate an injured Palestinian during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem on Friday. (Ariel Shalit / Associated Press)
At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in a recent wave of violence, according to the Associated Press, many of whom have carried out attacks or clashes, but also an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appear to have been killed by mistake.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians were expected to gather in Al-Aqsa for Friday prayers.
Weeks of protests and clashes in Jerusalem during Ramadan last year ultimately sparked an 11-day war with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Israel has lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try to defuse tensions before Ramadan, but attacks and military attacks have sparked a new wave of unrest.
Hamas has condemned what it said were “brutal attacks” on al-Aqsa worshipers by Israeli forces, saying Israel would suffer “all the consequences”. He called on all Palestinians to “stand by our people in Jerusalem.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Service said it was treating 152 people, many of whom were wounded by rubberized bullets or stunning grenades or beaten with batons. (Mahmoud Ilyin / Associated Press)
Earlier this week, Hamas and other fighting groups in Gaza called on Palestinians to camp at the Al-Aqsa Mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take the place or divide it.
Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years nationalists and religious Jews have visited the site in large numbers with police escorts.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, home of Al-Aqsa and other major shrines, during the 1967 war and annexed it in a move that is not internationally recognized. The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future independent state, including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago.
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