Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, April 15, 2022.
Mahmoud Illean / AP
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Mahmoud Illean / AP
Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, April 15, 2022.
Mahmoud Illean / AP
JERUSALEM – Clashes broke out early Friday between Israeli police and Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a major holy site in Jerusalem, and medics said at least 59 Palestinians were injured. .
The Islamic organization that manages the site said Israeli police were in place before dawn, when thousands of worshipers gathered at the mosque for early morning prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Israel said its forces were involved to remove the rocks and that the boulders had been assembled as a precaution against violence.
Videos circulating online showed Palestinians hurling stones and police firing tear gas and stun grenades. Others showed worshipers barricading themselves inside the mosque amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Service said it had evacuated 59 injured people to hospital. Thien Phu said that one of the guards at this site was shot in the eye by a rubber bullet.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said dozens of masked men carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags marched to the complex early Friday and collected stones.
“Police were forced into the base to disperse crowds and remove rocks and stones, to prevent further violence,” it wrote on Twitter.
The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop that is the holiest site for the Jews, who call it the Temple Mount. It has been a major focal point for violence between Israel and Palestine for decades.
Tensions have been high in recent weeks following a series of Palestinian attacks that left 14 people inside Israel dead. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations in the occupied West Bank, triggering clashes in which a number of Palestinians have been killed.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians are expected to gather in Al-Aqsa for prayers on Friday.
Weeks of protests and clashes in Jerusalem during the month of Ramadan last year finally sparked an 11-day war with the Islamist militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.
Israel has lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try to defuse tensions ahead of the month of Ramadan, which this year coincides with the Jewish Passover and Christian week, bringing thousands of pilgrims to the streets. incense and other visitors to Jerusalem rejoice.
But army raids and raids have caused another wave of unrest.
Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza urged Palestinians to camp at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.
Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years nationalist and religious Jews have visited the site in large numbers accompanied by police escorts. close.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to Al-Aqsa and other major holy sites, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not internationally recognized. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future independent state that includes the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured in a war nearly 55 years ago.
