JERUSALEM: At least 152 Palestinians were injured on Friday in clashes with Israeli riot police inside Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Most of the Palestinian injuries were incurred by rubber bullets, stun grenades and beatings with police batons, the Palestine Red Crescent said, at the most sensitive site in the generations-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a statement, Israeli police said hundreds of Palestinians hurled firecrackers and stones at their forces and toward the nearby Jewish prayer area of the Western Wall in the Old City after Ramazan morning prayers.
It said police then entered the Al-Aqsa compound to “disperse and push back (the crowd and) enable the rest of the worshippers to leave the place safely”, adding that three officers were injured in the clashes.
Police detained hundreds of Palestinians, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a tweet. “We are working to restore calm, on the Temple Mount and across Israel. Alongside that, we are preparing for any scenario and the security forces are ready for any task,” Bennett said.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry, referring to the Al-Aqsa violence, said it “holds Israel fully and directly responsible for this crime and its consequences”.
“Immediate intervention by the international community is needed to stop Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa mosque and prevent things from going out of control,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who governs self-ruled areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip, said Israel “bears responsibility for the consequences”. Jordan condemned the Israeli police raid into the compound as “a flagrant violation”.
Tensions this year have been heightened in part by Ramadan coinciding with the Jewish celebration of Passover. Last year saw nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police during the Muslim fasting month. Since March, Israeli forces have killed 29 Palestinians as in the course of carrying out raids in the West Bank.
