Al Jazeera:
Tensions in Jerusalem have flared after Israeli police attacked
worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound overnight during the holy
month of Ramadan.
The raids continued until Wednesday morning
when Israeli forces were once again seen assaulting and pushing
Palestinians out of the compound and preventing them from praying –
before Israelis were allowed in under police protection.
What happened in Al-Aqsa compound?
Before dawn on Wednesday,
Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East
Jerusalem, attacking dozens of worshippers in the Qibli Mosque.
Israeli
police, who claimed they were responding to “rioting”, beat worshippers
with batons and used tear gas and sound bombs to force them out of the
prayer halls, according to witnesses.
Videos shared on social media showed women screaming for help as a small
fire erupted in the prayer hall.
The Palestinian Red Crescent
reported 12 people injured, including three who were taken to hospital.
It also said in a statement that Israeli forces prevented its medics
from reaching Al-Aqsa.
At least 400 Palestinians were arrested and remain in Israeli custody,
according to local officials.
Why would armed security forces enter a mosque?
Israeli
police said in a statement that they were forced to enter the compound
after “masked agitators” locked themselves inside the mosque with
fireworks, sticks and stones.
“When the police entered, stones
were thrown at them and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a
large group of agitators,” the statement said, adding that a police
officer was wounded in the leg.
The Israeli police also said that
according to a prior agreement with the Al-Aqsa compound authorities,
no one was to spend the night inside the compound during the month of
Ramadan.
“The police said they ‘peacefully’ tried to convince
people to leave but when that didn’t happen they forced their way into
Al-Aqsa,” said Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim.
But Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned
what happened as “a major crime against the worshippers”, adding that
“prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque is not with the permission of the [Israeli]
occupation … it is our right.”
“Al-Aqsa is for the Palestinians
and for all Arabs and Muslims, and the raiding of it is a spark of
revolution against the occupation,” he added.
