Violence has broken out between Palestinians and Israeli police at the al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem. More than 150 Palestinians and at least three Israeli agents were injured.
The exact reason for the violence is not yet clear, but according to the Islamic foundation that runs the mosque, the police came to the building before dawn. At that time, thousands of people were present for morning prayers during Ramadan.
Israel’s foreign ministry said on Friday morning, masked men carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags came to the mosque in large numbers and collected stones. The police allegedly took preventive action and allegedly entered the mosque to arrest people. Shortly afterward, a confrontation escalated with police firing flash grenades and rubber bullets and Palestinians throwing stones.
It is not the first time that fierce clashes have broken out between Palestinians and the Israeli police around the al-Aqsa mosque. In May last year, Palestinians protested against the forced expropriations and evictions of Palestinian residents in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in 1967. Despite not officially being a territory of Israel, the country claims to be. An Israeli judge then ruled that at least six families must make way for Jewish settlers.
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