After clashes between Israeli and Palestinian police at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound (the third-holiest place in Islam), more than 100 people were injured.
Officers used tear gas and stungrenades to disperse the crowd of people wearing masks who were throwing stones at them.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency services, at least 117 Palestinians were injured.
Two weeks into Ramadan , thousands of Muslims gathered at the mosque. Tensions were high following a series of terrorist attacks.
According to the Islamic endowment, the Israeli police arrived in the area shortly after the early morning prayers.
One guard was said to have been shot in the eye by a rubber bullet.
According to Israel’s foreign ministry, dozens of men wearing Palestinian and Hamas flags marched up to the compound.
It tweeted that “Police had to enter the grounds to disperse crowd and remove stones and rocks in order to prevent violence from continuing.”
Israeli police stated that there were “hundreds” of demonstrators throwing stones and fireworks at police officers stationed in the area.
According to the report, at least three officers were injured. The agency was forced to intervene after rocks began to be thrown towards Jerusalem’s holy site of the Western Wall.
Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesperson, described the violence as “brutal assaults by the Israeli occupation troops against the worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
Palestinians consider any large-scale police deployment at Al-Aqsa a major provocation.
It is Islam’s third holiest site. The mosque was built on the highest sacred spot for Jews, the Temple Mount.
For decades, it has been a flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The 11-day war that erupted with militants in Gaza Strip was triggered by clashes there last year.
This year, Passover, Ramadan, and Easter are co-located. Millions of Jews, Muslims, and Christians will be expected to visit Jerusalem in the coming days.
Israel was hit hard by a series of terrorist attacks in the latter part of March and early April.
Fourteen Israelis were injured and 14 of them died in four separate incidents.
Sky News Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall stated that recent attacks were carried out by a mixture of Palestinians, Arabs-Israelis, and Bedouin.
Israel has conducted a series of operations and arrests in the occupied West Bank, sparking clashes between Palestinians.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, a 17-year old died Friday after suffering injuries from the West Bank city Jenin.
In the latest wave of violence, at least 25 Palestinians were killed – most had been involved in attacks or in unrest – but there was also an unarmed woman who appeared to have been mistakenly killed and a lawyer.