Israeli police have clashed with Palestinian protesters in the latest violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, as the UN has expressed deep concern over growing unrest.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 57 people were injured Friday, including 14 Palestinians taken to hospital, one in critical condition after police raided the facility in Israel’s annexed East Jerusalem Old City.
The clashes come after a month of deadly violence, as the Jewish holiday of Passover overlaps with the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The violence has sparked international fears of conflict, a year since such unrest sparked an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza extremists.
This week, Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel, which responded by sending fighter jets to hit the blockaded and poor territory.
“We are deeply concerned about the escalating violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel over the past month,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Israeli police say Palestinians began throwing stones before dawn on Friday at the Western Wall, the most sacred place where Jews can pray. “Police forces used means to disperse the crowd to stop the violence,” the force said, adding that one officer was injured.
Al-Aqsa is the third holiest place in Islam and the holiest place in Judaism, where it is known as the Temple Mount.
Palestinians offer Friday prayers, the third Muslim holy month of Ramadan, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex. Photo: APAImages / Rex / Shutterstock
Police fired tear gas and rubber-tipped bullets at Palestinian youths who threw stones and later used drones to spray tear gas from the air, according to a local photographer. After the noon prayers, some worshipers chanted “incitement” and tried to break a security post, police said.
More than 200 people, mostly Palestinians, have been injured in clashes in and around Al-Aqsa over the past week. Many Palestinians were outraged by the massive deployment of Israeli police and the repeated visits of Jews to the holy site.
According to the long-standing convention, Jews are allowed to visit under certain conditions, but they are not allowed to pray there.
Palestinian worshiper Alaa al-Haddad said Israel was restricting access to Al-Aqsa, creating “tensions that have led to clashes” with hundreds of people arrested in recent days.
“It’s all because the occupying forces regularly storm the holy mosque of Al-Aqsa,” Haddad added.
On Thursday, Arab ministers at a meeting in Jordan, the guardian of holy sites in East Jerusalem, condemned “Israeli attacks and violations against worshipers” in al-Aqsa, calling them “a clear provocation to the feelings of Muslims everywhere.”
On Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an investigation into the actions of the Israeli police.
“The use of force by the Israeli police, leading to widespread injuries among worshipers and staff in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, must be investigated immediately, impartially, independently and transparently,” Shamdasani said.
But Israeli Foreign Minister Jair Lapid, speaking Thursday after meeting with Acting Assistant Secretary of State Yael Lempert, denied Palestinian allegations and said Israel was “maintaining and will continue to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount.”
The latest increase in violence, including four deadly March 22 attacks in Israel by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, has killed 14 people.
During the same period, 24 Palestinians were killed, including attackers who targeted Israelis, according to one statistic. Among them was 20-year-old Ibrahim Labdi of Jenin, who died Friday from injuries sustained in an Israeli attack on the city last week.
Violence has also risen dramatically in the Palestinian coastal enclave in the Gaza Strip, run by the Islamist Hamas movement, where crowds gathered on Friday in solidarity with al-Aqsa.
On Thursday, Gaza fighters and Israeli warplanes exchanged fire in the biggest escalation in months.
After a rocket fired by extremists hit the garden of a house in southern Israel late Wednesday – the first such attack in January – Israel launched air strikes against Gaza.
The military said it had hit an underground missile factory, sparking another barrage of missiles from Gaza.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said the movement was “determined to continue the fight … regardless of the casualties”.
The violence proved to be a political headache for Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is leading an ideologically divided coalition government. After losing its one-seat majority in parliament this month, the Raam party, made up of the country’s Arab minority, has suspended support for the coalition over clashes in Al-Aqsa.
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