Palestinians clash with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem

Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Medics said more than 150 Palestinians were injured in the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.

The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the focus of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions had already escalated amid a recent wave of violence. Last year, clashes at the site helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Conflicts come at especially sensitive times. This year Ramadan coincides with Passover, a major week-long Jewish holiday that begins at sunset on a Friday, and Christian Holy Week, which ends on Easter Sunday. Thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit the Old City of Jerusalem, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.

Hours after the clashes began, police said they had put an end to the violence and arrested “hundreds” of suspects. The mosque was reopened, and about 60,000 people attended the main Friday prayers in the afternoon, according to the Islamic Endowment that governs the site.

After the prayer, thousands of Palestinians marched around the esplanade saying, “With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, al-Aqsa,” in addition to slogans in support of Hamas, the Islamic terrorist group that attacks Gaza. reigns. Some carried Palestinian and Hamas flags.

Israeli officials said they had held talks with Muslim leaders to ensure peace before the violence broke out. But police say Palestinians stockpiled rocks and other objects inside the compound and threw stones at the Mughrabi Gate, which leads to the Western Wall – a major Jewish holy site – triggering the violence.

Palestinian witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity over security concerns, said a small group of Palestinians threw stones at police, who later entered the compound, leading to widespread clashes. Palestinians view any major police deployment in al-Aqsa as a provocation.

Palestinians threw stones and fireworks, and police fired tear gas and subliminal grenades on the esplanade that surrounds the mosque. A large group of Palestinians locked themselves inside the mosque while fighting with the Israeli security forces.

The Israeli police later entered the mosque and arrested the people inside. Israeli security forces rarely enter the building, and when they do it is seen by Palestinians as a major escalation.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Service said it treated 152 people, many of whom were wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades, or beaten with batons. The endowment said a guard at the site was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.

Israeli police said three officers were injured in the “massive stone pelting”, two of whom were evacuated from the scene for treatment.

Neighboring Jordan, which has guardianship over the holy site, and the Palestinian Authority issued a joint statement accusing Israel of “a dangerous and reprehensible escalation that threatens to detonate the situation”.

Israel’s Minister of National Security, Omar Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel was “not interested” in violence at the holy site, but that the police were forced to confront “violent elements”. who attacked them with stones and metal bars. He said Israel is committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, speaking at a holiday gathering with security officials, said officials “are working to calm things down at Temple Mount and across Israel. At the same time we are prepared for any scenario.”

The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on top of a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem which is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as Temple Mount because it was the site of Jewish temples in antiquity. It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the center of the 2000–2005 Palestinian Intifada, or insurgency.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, al-Aqsa and other major holy sites in the 1967 war in a move not recognized internationally. 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 some 55 years earlier.

Tensions have risen in recent weeks after a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations in the occupied West Bank, triggering conflict with the Palestinians.

A 17-year-old man died early Friday from wounds sustained during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin a day earlier, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in a recent wave of violence, many of whom were attacked or involved in clashes, but there were also an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appear to have been killed, according to an Associated Press count. Mistake.

Protests and conflicts in and around al-Aqsa during Ramadan last year eventually ignited the Fourth Gaza War between Israel and Hamas. This year, Israel has lifted sanctions and taken other steps to defuse tensions ahead of Ramadan, but attacks and military raids have sparked another cycle of unrest.

Hamas condemned the “brutal attack” on worshipers in al-Aqsa, saying Israel would face “all consequences”.

Earlier this week, Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza called on Palestinians to camp at the al-Aqsa Mosque over the weekend. The Palestinians had long feared that Israel was planning to capture the site or divide it.

Israeli officials say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years large groups of nationalist and religious Jews have regularly visited the site with police protection.

A radical Jewish group recently called on people to bring animals to the site to be sacrificed for Passover, offering cash rewards for those who succeeded or those who tried. Israeli police work to stop such activities, but the call was widely circulated by Palestinians on social media, as well as calls from Muslims to stop any sacrifices.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, issued a statement calling on Muslim leaders to take action to stop the violence. It also noted that “bringing sacrifices to the Temple Mount today is in conflict with the decision of the Chief Rabbi of Israel.”

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