Israel attacks Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque
In the holy month of Ramadan, the Palestinians still suffered violence, attack, and air strikes in their region. For the consecutive second night, the violence resumed in Jerusalem when the Palestinian worshippers barricaded themselves inside Al-Aqsa Mosque at the Old City’s sensitive compound and Israeli police used force to remove dozens of worshippers.
On Wednesday night, the tension in Jerusalem also prompted rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
The fighting, which comes as Muslims marked the holy month of Ramadan and Jews began Passover, raised fears of a wider conflagration.
Official statements
According to the media reports, almost six people were injured in this violence. The Islamic Waqf authorities, which manage the compound, said police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.
While responding to the allegations, 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 phones showing the renewed clashes that had happened just meters away.
Israeli police fired stun grenades
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. However, 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.
The mosque sits in a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, and conflicting claims over it have spilt into violence before, including a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam and stands in a spot known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism.
Palestinian militant groups warned that further confrontation was coming.
However, the Palestinian official said the Palestinian Authority was in contact with officials in Egypt, Jordan, and the United States and at the United Nations to de-escalate the situation. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
UN expresses “outrage and condemnation”
U.N. Mideast 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.
The Palestinian U.N. ambassador, Riyad Mansour expressed “outrage and condemnation” at the attack.
Speaking to the media at the UN Headquarters, Mansour said, “It is the right of the Palestinian Muslim worshippers to exercise their religious duties and prayers in this holy month of Ramadan, and in any other time in this holy Aqsa Mosque.”
Crowds of Palestinians gathered around a police station in Jerusalem, waiting anxiously for their loved ones to trickle out of detention. Amin Risheq, a 19-year-old from east Jerusalem, said that after being beaten and forced to lay on the floor of the mosque with dozens of others, his hands zip-tied behind his back, he was taken to the police station where he said he did not have access to a toilet, medical attention or water for over six hours. “They treated us like animals,” he said.
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Several Palestinians arrested
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’d 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 moderately wounded in the occupied West Bank.
Most of the Palestinians arrested from Al-Aqsa were released from detention by the early afternoon, said lawyer Khaled Zabarqa, who represents several of them. But he said that some 50 Palestinians, many of them from the occupied West Bank, were still detained and would have their cases heard at the Ofer military court on Friday. He put the total number of arrested at 450.
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