Jerusalem (AP) – Israeli security forces entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem before dawn as thousands of Palestinians gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, sparking clashes that medics said injured at least 67 Palestinians. .
Israel said its forces had come in to remove rocks and stones that had been collected in anticipation of the violence. 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.
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.
Videos circulating online show Palestinians throwing stones and police firing tear gas and stunning grenades at the vast eplanade around the mosque. Others showed worshipers barricading themselves in the mosque amid what looked like clouds of tear gas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Service said it had evacuated 67 people to hospitals who had been injured by rubber-coated 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 and Hamas flags marched to the complex early Friday and collected stones.
“Police were forced to enter the area to disperse the crowd and remove stones and rocks to prevent further violence,” Twitter said.
Police said they waited until prayers were over and crowds began to disperse. A statement said the crowds began throwing stones at the Western Wall, a nearby Jewish holy site, forcing them to act. They said they did not enter the mosque itself.
The Palestinians see any major police deployment in Al-Aqsa as a major provocation.
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 site for the Jews, who call it Temple Mount because it was the site of ancient Jewish temples. 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.
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.
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 at Al-Aqsa for Friday 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 led to a new cycle 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.”
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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