Israeli police firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets have clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site, the latest in a series of confrontations that threaten to push the contested city into wider conflict.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
More than a dozen tear gas canisters and stun grenades landed in the Al-Aqsa mosque, located in a compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, said an Associated Press photographer at the scene.
Smoke rose in front of the mosque and the iconic golden-domed shrine on the site, and rocks littered the surrounding plaza.
More than 305 Palestinians were hurt, including 228 who went to hospitals and clinics for treatment, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Seven of the injured were in serious condition. Police said 21 officers were hurt, including three who were hospitalised.
Monday's confrontation was the latest after weeks of mounting tensions between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the Old City of Jerusalem. The clashes have come during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, already a time of heightened religious sensitivities.
Most recently, the tensions have been fueled by an eviction plan in an Arab neighbourhood of east Jerusalem where Israeli settlers have waged a lengthy legal battle to take over properties.
Hundreds of Palestinians and about two dozen police officers have been hurt over the past few days in clashes at the sacred compound, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
An AP photographer at the scene said that early Monday morning, protesters had barricaded gates to the walled compound with wooden boards and scrap metal. Sometime after 7am clashes erupted, with those inside throwing stones at police deployed outside. Police entered the compound, firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and stun grenades.
Police said protesters hurled stones at officers and onto an adjoining roadway near the Western Wall, where thousands of Israeli Jews had gathered to pray.
After several days of Jerusalem confrontations, Israel has come under growing international criticism for its heavy-handed actions at the site, particularly during Ramadan.
The UN Security Council scheduled closed consultations on the situation Monday.
Late on Sunday, the US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat. A White House statement said that Sullivan called on Israel to "pursue appropriate measures to ensure calm" and expressed the US's "serious concerns" about the ongoing violence and planned evictions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against the criticism, describing Israel's actions in Jerusalem as a law-and-order issue.
Netanyahu said Israel is determined to ensure the rights of worship for all and that this "requires from time to time stand up and stand strong as Israeli police and our security forces are doing now."
Ayman Odeh, a leading Arab politician in Israel, blamed the violence on Israel's discriminatory policies toward the Palestinians and said it had provoked the violence.
"Wherever you find occupation, you will find resistance," he said near the homes whose residents are under threat of eviction.
The day began with police announcing that Jews would be barred from visiting the holy site on what Israelis mark as Jerusalem Day, with a flag-waving parade through the Old City.
The marchers celebrate Israel's capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war.
Police have allowed the Jerusalem Day parade to take place despite growing concerns that it could further inflame tensions.
Israel's Supreme Court postponed a key ruling Monday that could have forced dozens of Palestinians from their homes, citing the "circumstances."
The Israeli crackdown and planned evictions have drawn harsh condemnations from Israel's Arab allies and expressions of concern from the EU and the UN.
Australian Associated Press
