Israeli police raided Jerusalem`s Al-Aqsa mosque earlier than sunrise on Wednesday to try and clean corporations it stated had been barricaded interior, main to clashes with worshippers and triggering an alternate of crossborder hearthplace with Gaza.
The incident got here for the duration of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and at the eve of the Jewish Passover, stoking fears of similarly violence on the mosque compound, a flashpoint withinside the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Palestinian militants fired at the least 9 rockets from Gaza into Israel, prompting air moves from Israel which hit what it stated had been weapon manufacturing webweb sites for the Islamist organization Hamas, which controls the blockaded coastal enclave.
Hamas did now no longer declare obligation for the rocket assaults however stated they had been a reaction to the raid on Al-Aqsa, wherein clashes in 2021 prompt a 10-day conflict with Gaza.
Ground-shaking explosions from the airstrikes rocked Gaza. Witnesses stated Israeli tanks additionally shelled Hamas positions.
“We aren’t interested by an escalation however we’re prepared for any scenario,” Israeli navy spokesman Daniel Hagari stated.
The Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, is Islam’s 0.33 holiest web website online and tens of hundreds come to hope there for the duration of Ramadan. It is likewise Judaism’s maximum sacred web website online, respected as Temple Mount, a vestige of the 2 biblical Jewish temples.
The Palestinian Red Crescent stated 12 Palestinians had sustained accidents for the duration of the raid, consisting of from rubber-tipped bullets and beatings, in clashes with police. It stated Israeli forces had averted its medics from accomplishing the area.
“In the backyard to the jap a part of the compound, the police fired tear fueloline and stun grenades,” stated Fahmi Abbas, a worshipper who become on the mosque while the raid occurred. “Then they stormed in and commenced beating everyone.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the state of affairs were induced with the aid of using “extremists” who barricaded themselves in the mosque with guns, stones and fireworks.
“Israel is devoted to retaining freedom of worship , loose get entry to to all religions and the fame quo at the Temple Mount and could now no longer permit violent extremists to extrade that,” he stated in a announcement.
STUN GRENADES
Videos circulating on social media, which Reuters couldn’t independently verify, confirmed fireworks going off and police beating humans interior one of the mosque buildings. Police video confirmed police coming into the constructing at the same time as hearthplace crackers exploded withinside the darkness.
“I become sitting on a chair reciting (the Koran),” an aged lady informed Reuters out of doors the mosque, suffering to seize her breath. “They hurled stun grenades, one in all them hit my chest,” she stated, crying.
Israeli police stated officials entered the compound after what it referred to as masked agitators locked themselves in the mosque and after tries to eliminate them with the aid of using communicate failed.
More than 350 humans interior had been arrested and eliminated from the compound, police stated.
“Throughout the presence of police forces withinside the compound, stones had been thrown and a couple of firecrackers had been prompt in the mosque with the aid of using many law-breaking people and rioters,” the police announcement stated, including that officials had been wounded.
Thousands of worshippers were spending the night time withinside the mosque compound amid fears of feasible clashes with Jewish site visitors to the web website online for Passover.
Under a longstanding “fame quo” association governing the compound, non-Muslims can go to however most effective Muslims are allowed to worship. Some Jewish site visitors have an increasing number of prayed there in spite of that association.
The Waqf, the Jordanian-appointed Islamic company that manages the complex, defined the police movements as a “flagrant attack at the identification and the feature of the mosque as an area of worship for Muslims alone”.
CONDEMNATION
“Leaders on all facets should act responsibly and chorus from steps that would improve tensions,” stated the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland.
The United States stated it become alarmed with the aid of using the violence.
The Arab League condemned Israel’s “extremist approach” and stated it’d preserve an emergency assembly on Wednesday.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China requested the 15-member United Nations Security Council to talk about the state of affairs at the back of closed-doorways on Thursday, stated diplomats.
The UAE’s overseas ministry additionally stated “worshippers have to now no longer barricade themselves in the mosque and locations of worship with guns and explosives”.
Jordan and Egypt, each worried in current U.S.-sponsored efforts to de-improve Israel-Palestinian tensions, issued separate statements condemning the incident. Saudi Arabia, with which Israel hopes to normalise ties, stated Israel’s “storming” of Al-Aqsa undermined peace efforts.
“Israel’s aggression towards the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound is an egregious attack at the primary proper of Palestinians to worship freely of their holy web website online,” the Palestinian overseas ministry stated in a announcement.
With Israel nevertheless reeling from weeks of protests over Netanyahu’s plans to rein withinside the powers of the Supreme Court, the incident introduced to an already fevered political atmosphere.
Far-proper National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has obligation for the police however now no longer the armed forces, referred to as for a harsh reaction from Israel.
“Hamas rockets require greater than blasting dunes and empty webweb sites. It’s time to tear heads off in Gaza,” he stated in a tweet.
In the West Bank metropolis of Beit Ummar, protesters burned tyres and threw rocks and explosive gadgets at Israeli soldiers, one in all whom become shot and wounded. Separately, a gunman opened hearthplace on an military checkpoint among Jerusalem and Bethlehem with out inflicting any casualties.
