Violence resumed for a second straight night in Jerusalem on Wednesday when Palestinian worshipers barricaded themselves inside al-Aqsa Mosque at the Old City’s sensitive compound and Israeli police used force to remove dozens of them.
The unrest was less intense than the previous night, but the situation remained combustible as Muslims marked the Ramadan holy month and Jews began the week-long Passover holiday.
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip renewed their rocket fire at Israel, raising fears of a wider conflagration.
Photo: Reuters
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that at least six people were injured in the latest violence.
The Islamic Waqf authorities, which manage the compound, said police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.
Israeli police said that “dozens of law-breaking juveniles” had fomented chaos, throwing rocks and other objects at officers, and compelling police to act to restore “security, law and order.”
More Palestinians had gathered in the mosque, responding to calls by Waqf to pray inside overnight. At one of the mosque entrances, police officers could be seen escorting dozens of Palestinians out of the compound.
Residents and shoppers milled around, watching social media videos on their smartphones showing the renewed clashes that had happened just meters away.
Early on Wednesday, Israeli police stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque, firing stun grenades at Palestinians who hurled stones and firecrackers in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday season.
Palestinian militants in Gaza responded with rocket fire on southern Israel, prompting repeated Israeli airstrikes.
The violence had calmed by early Wednesday morning, but in the evening, Palestinian militants fired two more rockets from Gaza, with one falling short inside Gaza and the other falling near the security fence separating Gaza from Israel, the Israeli military said.
There were no reports of casualties.
Palestinian militant groups warned that further confrontation was coming, but a Palestinian official said the Palestinian Authority was in contact with officials in Egypt, Jordan, the US and at the UN to de-escalate the situation.
He spoke on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to brief the media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was working to “calm tensions” at the holy site.
People who were detained at the compound and later released said police used batons, chairs, rifles and whatever else they could find to strike Palestinians, including women and children, who responded by hurling stones and setting off firecrackers that they had brought to evening prayers for fear of possible clashes.
Outside the mosque’s gate, police dispersed crowds of young men with stun grenades and rubber bullets.
Medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said that at least 50 people were injured.
Israeli police said they were not immediately able to confirm the reports and videos showing officers beating Palestinians, but said 350 were arrested.
They added that one officer was injured in the leg.
Separately, the Israeli military said one soldier was shot and lightly wounded in the occupied West Bank.
UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said he was “appalled by the images of violence” at al-Aqsa, condemning the beating and mass arrests of Palestinians, as well as reports of Palestinians stockpiling firecrackers and rocks.
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour expressed “outrage and condemnation” at the attack, telling reporters at UN headquarters that “it is the right of the Palestinian Muslim worshipers to exercise their religious duties and prayers in this holy month of Ramadan, and in any other time in this holy Aqsa Mosque.”
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