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Israeli police have entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as worshippers gathered for early morning prayers, two days after detaining a whole lot on the web site in one other raid on the mosque.
Israeli authorities stated they entered the compound on Sunday to facilitate routine visits by Jews to the holy web site and that Palestinians had stockpiled stones and arrange limitations within the compound.
The police cleared Palestinians out of the sprawling esplanade exterior the mosque, whereas dozens remained inside.
Two Palestinians had been arrested, The Related Press reported, and two had been injured, based on the Palestinian Crimson Cross.
Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, stated the raid happened forward of a three-hour timeframe throughout which non-Muslims are allowed to go to the compound, the third-holiest in Islam and the holiest for Jews, who confer with it because the Temple Mount.
Tensions had been excessive after the far-right Jewish group Return to Temple Mount provided a money prize to anybody who went into Al-Aqsa Mosque and sacrificed a goat – a Jewish spiritual ritual that’s prohibited contained in the mosque and that may represent an extra provocation.
“This didn’t occur but it surely went viral on social media,” Ghoneim stated, including that it contributed to an increase in tensions.
Greater than 300 Palestinians had been detained on Friday in what rights watchdogs say was the most important en masse arrest over the course of 1 hour and in a single location in additional than 20 years.
At the very least 158 Palestinians had been injured within the ensuing violence.
Movies circulating on-line on Friday confirmed police firing tear fuel and stun grenades and Palestinians throwing stones again.
Others confirmed worshippers barricading themselves contained in the mosque amid what seemed to be clouds of tear fuel.
However Palestinian cameraman Rami al-Khatib, who witnessed the raid, stated: ”They [Israeli forces] brutally emptied the compound. They had been attacking the mosque workers, regular individuals, elders, younger individuals.
“There have been many injured individuals, they fired rubber bullets inside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. They had been beating everybody, even the paramedics, they hit them,” stated al-Khatib, who suffered a damaged hand.
Israeli police stated they entered the compound on Friday to interrupt up a “violent” crowd that remained on the finish of the morning prayers.
Palestinians have lengthy feared that Israel plans to take over the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound or partition it.
Israeli authorities say they’re dedicated to sustaining the established order, however lately giant teams of nationalist and spiritual Jews have frequently visited the positioning with police escorts, one thing the Palestinians view as a provocation.
Palestinians and Israelis have witnessed a rise in violence over the previous month, with Israeli forces stepping up raids, shootings and arrests throughout the occupied West Financial institution and Palestinian attackers concentrating on individuals in Israeli cities.
4 assaults by Palestinians in 4 Israeli cities have taken place since March 22, killing 14 individuals, whereas Israel has elevated its raids on Palestinian cities and villages, resulting in violence and arrests.
Sixteen Palestinians have been killed in the identical interval.
Palestinians say the most recent outbreak of violence stems from frustration over Israeli insurance policies in direction of them, the continued occupation of the Palestinian territories, and weak Palestinian management.
Tons of of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip took to the streets to protest Israeli forces breaking into the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, in a present of help for individuals dwelling within the occupied West Financial institution.
Final 12 months, raids of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli safety forces through the holy month of Ramadan heightened tensions additional and, 4 days later, an 11-day Israeli assault on Gaza started, ostensibly in response to rockets fired by Hamas in direction of Israel.
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