JERUSALEM — Israeli safety forces entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem earlier than daybreak on Friday as hundreds of Palestinians had been gathered for prayers throughout the holy month of Ramadan, setting off clashes that medics stated wounded at least 67 Palestinians.
Israel stated its forces entered to take away rocks and stones that had been gathered in anticipation of violence. The holy web site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has usually been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions had been already heightened amid a latest wave of violence. Clashes at the positioning final 12 months helped spark an 11-day struggle with Hamas militants within the Gaza Strip.
The clashes come at a very delicate time.
Ramadan this 12 months coincides with Passover, a serious weeklong Jewish vacation starting Friday at sunset, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are anticipated to convey tens of hundreds of trustworthy into Jerusalem’s (*67*) City, house to main websites sacred to all three religions.
Videos circulating on-line confirmed Palestinians hurling rocks and fireworks and police firing tear fuel and stun grenades on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque. Others confirmed worshippers barricading themselves contained in the mosque itself amid what gave the impression to be clouds of tear fuel.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service stated it evacuated 67 individuals to hospitals who had been wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades, or overwhelmed with batons. The endowment stated one of many guards at the positioning was shot within the eye with a rubber bullet.
The Israeli police stated three officers had been wounded from “massive stone-throwing,” with two evacuated from the scene for remedy.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated dozens of masked males carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags marched to the compound early Friday and gathered stones.
“Police were forced to enter the grounds to disperse the crowd and remove the stones and rocks, in order to prevent further violence,” it tweeted.
The police stated they waited till prayers had been over and the crowds began to disperse. In an announcement, it stated crowds began hurling rocks within the route of the Western Wall, a close-by Jewish holy web site, forcing them to behave. They stated they didn’t enter the mosque itself.
Palestinians view any massive deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a serious provocation.
Israel’s nationwide safety minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police pressure, stated Israel had “no interest” in violence at the holy web site however that police had been pressured to confront “violent elements” that confronted them with stones and metallic bars.
He stated Israel was dedicated to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike. Police stated Friday’s midday prayers at the mosque — when tens of hundreds of individuals had been anticipated — would happen as ordinary.
The mosque is the third holiest web site in Islam. It is constructed on a hilltop in Jerusalem’s (*67*) City that’s the most sacred web site for Jews, who discuss with it because the Temple Mount as a result of it was the positioning of the Jewish temples in antiquity. It has been a serious flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for many years and was the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or rebellion.
Tensions have soared in latest weeks following a sequence of assaults by Palestinians that killed 14 individuals inside Israel. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and navy operations throughout the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.
The Palestinian Health Ministry stated a 17-year-old died early Friday from wounds suffered throughout clashes with Israeli forces in Jenin, within the occupied West Bank, the day earlier than.
At least 25 Palestinians have been killed within the latest wave of violence, in accordance with an Associated Press rely, lots of whom had carried out assaults or had been concerned within the clashes, but additionally an unarmed girl and a lawyer who seems to have been killed by mistake.
Weeks of protests and clashes in Jerusalem throughout Ramadan final 12 months finally ignited an 11-day struggle with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which guidelines the Gaza Strip.
Israel had lifted restrictions and brought different steps to attempt to calm tensions forward of Ramadan, however the assaults and the navy raids have caused one other cycle of unrest.
Hamas condemned what it stated had been “brutal attacks” on worshippers at Al-Aqsa by Israeli forces, saying Israel would bear “all the consequences.” It known as on all Palestinians to “stand by our people in Jerusalem.”
Earlier this week, Hamas and different militant teams in Gaza had known as on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have lengthy feared that Israel plans to take over the positioning or partition it.
Israeli authorities say they’re dedicated to sustaining the established order, however lately nationalist and non secular Jews have visited the positioning in massive numbers with police escorts.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, house to Al-Aqsa and different main holy websites, within the 1967 struggle and annexed it in a transfer not acknowledged internationally. Palestinians need the japanese a part of town to be the capital of a future impartial state together with the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel additionally captured throughout the struggle practically 55 years in the past.