Israeli police have raided the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, with medics reporting at least 158 Palestinians injured in the ensuing violence as hundreds were detained.
The Islamic endowment that runs the site said Israeli police entered in force before dawn on Friday, as thousands of worshippers were gathered at the mosque for early morning prayers, reports Al Jazeera citing news agencies.
Videos circulating online showed Palestinians throwing rocks and police firing tear gas and stun grenades. Others showed worshippers barricading themselves inside the mosque amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it evacuated the majority of the wounded to hospitals. The endowment said one of the guards at the site was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.
The Palestinian Red Crescent added that Israeli forces had hindered the arrival of ambulances and paramedics to the mosque, as Palestinian media said dozens of injured worshippers remained trapped inside the compound.
Israeli police said they arrested at least 300 Palestinians during the latest escalation. However, Palestinian sources put the number at 400.
Israeli police said they entered the compound, the third holiest site in Islam and revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, to break up a “violent” crowd that remained at the end of the morning prayers.
They said they went in “to disperse and push back” the crowd after a group of Palestinians began throwing rocks toward the nearby Jewish prayer space of the Western Wall.
But Palestinian cameraman, Rami al-Khatib, who witnessed the raid, said: ”They [Israeli forces] brutally emptied the compound. They were attacking the mosque staff, normal people, elders, and young people.
“There were many injured people, they fired rubber bullets inside the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. They were beating everyone, even the paramedics, they hit them,” said al-Khatib, who too was injured.
Reporting from Damascus Gate, Al Jazeera’s Najwan al-Samri said Israeli police stormed the mosque compound without pretext and assaulted worshippers near the Qibly prayer hall following the morning prayer.
She added that the escalation came as far-right Jewish groups called for raids of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Jewish Passover holiday, and the offering of animal sacrifices in its courtyards, which has not occurred since ancient times.
Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim said Palestinians considered Israel’s actions inside the compound as a provocation.
“Simply seeing Israeli police actually inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque with men lying face down on the carpet, hearing the bang-bang of stun grenades, seeing the cloud of tear gas, seeing distressed Palestinians being carted outside of the compound after being injured…deeply outraged and upset Palestinians,” she said, speaking from outside Damascus Gate.
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara blamed the Israeli occupation, the “international community’s indifference to Palestinian suffering” amid the Ukraine crisis, and the “paralysis of the Palestinian leadership” as reasons behind the latest developments in Jerusalem.
Angry responses
Responding to the developments, the Palestinian presidency said in a statement that the storming of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound by Israeli police was “a dangerous development” and “a declaration of war”.
It added that the Palestinian people would not allow Israeli occupation forces and Jewish settlers to take over the holy site, and called on the international community to “end Israeli aggression”.
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of Hamas which governs the Strip said the decision the Palestinian people would defend and protect Al-Aqsa Mosque at all costs. He added there was no place for “intruders” in Jerusalem.
Hamas also called on the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Israel to unite in support of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
On his part, Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, said Israel would not allow those he described as “rioters” to hinder prayer in Jerusalem and disrupt public order.
Gendelman accused “Palestinian thugs” of throwing stones without pretext with the aim of inflaming the situation in the Al-Aqsa mosque. He said Israeli police were forced to enter the compound to disperse the crowds and calm the situation.
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks. Israel has been carrying out arrests and military raids in the illegally occupied West Bank in the wake of a series of deadly attacks by Palestinians inside Israel, setting off clashes in which several Palestinians have been killed, including seven since Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians were expected to gather at Al-Aqsa for Friday afternoon prayers as Muslims observe the holy month of Ramadan.
Weeks of protests and raids on Al-Aqsa during Ramadan last year escalated into an 11-day assault on the besieged Gaza Strip.
The war led to the deaths of at least 260 Palestinians, as well as 13 Israelis, and significant destruction in the already impoverished territory.
Ramadan this year coincides with the Jewish Passover holiday and Christian holy week, bringing thousands of pilgrims and other visitors to Jerusalem.