Israeli forces raided Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City early on Wednesday and attacked Palestinian worshippers, Palestinian media reported, raising fears of wider tension as Islamic and Jewish holidays overlap.
Tensions have been high in east Jerusalem and the West Bank for months, and fears of further violence have been fuelled with the convergence of the Muslim holy fast month of Ramadan and the Passover.
Such confrontations at the contested holy compound, the third holiest shrine in Islam that is also the most sacred site in Judaism and referred to as the Temple Mount, have sparked deadly cross-border wars between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers in the past, the last of which was in 2021.
Videos on social media purportedly showed Israeli police officers beating Palestinians with batons and rifle butts at the mosque.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that dozens of worshippers, who spend all the night during Ramadan praying, were injured when the police raided the mosque.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the violence. The Israeli police said it used force to evacuate worshippers who were holed up at the mosque with fireworks, rocks, and sticks. They added that an officer’s leg was injured by a stone and that dozens of ‘rioters’ were arrested.
