Israeli Police Attack Palestinian Worshippers At Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

Israeli police said in a statement that they were forced to enter the compound after “masked agitators” locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks and stones.

Israeli border guards patrol outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound at Lion's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City during clashes with Palestinians in Al-Aqsa Mosque on April 5, 2023.

Source : AFP

Israeli police raided, on Wednesday, and attacked dozens of worshippers in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. As per Reuters, witnesses said that this attack was in response to rioting.

As per Reuters, the Palestinian Red Crescent said seven Palestinians sustained wounds from rubber-tipped bullets and beatings in clashes with Israeli police at the compound. The Israeli police were preventing medics from reaching the mosque, it said.

Israeli police said in a statement that they were forced to enter the compound after “masked agitators” locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks and stones.

VIDEO: Clashes have erupted inside the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Israeli police said they entered to dislodge "agitators" - a move denounced as an "unprecedented crime" by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas pic.twitter.com/Y12u8QiqNX

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 5, 2023

Talab Abu Eisha, 49, told AP that more than 400 men, women and children were praying at Al-Aqsa when the police encircled the mosque.

“The youths were afraid and started closing the doors,” he said, adding that police forces “stormed the eastern corner, beating and arresting men there.”

”It was an unprecedented scene of violence in terms of police brutality and intention to hurt the youths,” he said, denying police claims that young men were hiding fireworks and rocks.

However, the Israeli police statement said, "When the police entered, stones were thrown at them and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a large group of agitators," adding that a police officer was wounded in the leg, as per the Reuters.

Friction at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, has set off violence in recent years.

Meanwhile the Palestinians groups condemned Israel's attacks on worshippers, calling it a crime.

"We warn the occupation against crossing red lines at holy sites, which will lead to a big explosion," said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The incident sparked protests outside the occupied West Bank and the Israeli military claimed that nine rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel, of which at least four were intercepted and four landed in open areas.

Over the past year, violence in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem has surged and now there are concerns that tensions could escalate this month, as the Muslim holy month of Ramzan coincides with Judaism's Passover and Christian Easter.