aClashes erupted between the occupation police and the Palestinians in the early hours of Friday morning at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. At least 117 Palestinians were wounded, according to medics. The Palestinian Red Crescent stated that 90 people were taken to hospitals. Israel said security forces entered the mosque building to remove stones believed to have been collected there in preparation for the violence.
Police said the violent confrontation erupted after the dawn prayer had ended. The demonstrators, some of whom, according to Israeli sources, carried the flags of the Islamic Hamas movement, threw stones and set off firecrackers. About 100 rioters were out of about 12,000 believers.
Videos circulating online showed Palestinians throwing stones and policemen firing tear gas and grenades. Other pictures showed worshipers barricading inside the mosque, apparently amid clouds of tear gas. Eyewitnesses and an AFP photographer said that the Israeli security forces fired rubber bullets at some Palestinian demonstrators.
And the occupation police said that three of its members were injured. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said dozens of masked men carrying the Palestinian flag and the Hamas flag stormed the compound in the early hours of Friday morning and collected stones. Police were forced to enter the site to disperse protesters and remove stones to prevent further violence, the ministry said.
Police said that security forces waited until the end of the prayer. The crowd began throwing stones at the Western Wall. Then she had to intervene. The security forces did not enter the mosque itself. Three police officers were injured by stones.
The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is located on a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, the holiest site for Jews as the Temple Mount. There has been violence between Israelis and Palestinians there for decades, and the site was also at the heart of the Palestinian uprising from 2000 to 2005. Palestinians consider any major appearance of security forces at the mosque a provocation.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, has condemned what it called „brutal attacks” by Israeli security forces on worshipers at Al-Aqsa. Israel will have to bear „all the consequences” of this. Tensions between Palestinians and Israeli security forces have increased significantly recently following a series of Palestinian attacks in which 14 Israelis were killed in the past few weeks.
Tens of thousands of Muslims were expected to arrive in the Old City of Jerusalem for Friday prayers in and around the Temple Mount during Ramadan. The Jewish Passover also begins on Friday evening, which will attract believers and visitors. The Tourism Ministry expects a total of 30,000 foreign tourists to arrive this week alone.
In addition, despite the wave of bloody terror, thousands of Christians want to reenact Jesus’ Way of the Cross in Jerusalem on Good Friday. A heavy police presence is expected, especially in the Old City. And last year, clashes around the Al-Aqsa Mosque led to days of fierce fighting between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip and Israeli security forces.
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