At least 152 Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli police at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the Palestine Red Crescent says, two weeks into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israeli security forces have been on high alert after a series of deadly Arab street attacks throughout the country during the past two weeks, and confrontations at the sacred Jerusalem site carry the risk of sparking a slide back into wider conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
In a statement, Israeli police said hundreds of Palestinians on Friday hurled firecrackers and stones at their forces and toward the nearby Jewish prayer area of the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City after Ramadan morning prayers.
Police entered the Al-Aqsa compound to “disperse and push back (the crowd and) enable the rest of the worshippers to leave the place safely”, it said, adding that three officers were injured in the clashes.
Reuters video showed officers, some in riot gear, chasing a small number of people after most of the crowd had left.
Israeli police arrested more than 80 Palestinians, Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani, director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Palestine TV.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it “holds Israel fully and directly responsible for this crime and its consequences”.
Read the article in The Young Witness (AAP).