Tensions ran high Sunday in annexed east Jerusalem after hundreds of Palestinians were wounded in a weekend of clashes between protesters and Israeli security forces, sparking global concern that the unrest could spread further.
The violence around Jerusalem’s revered Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the Old City, mostly at night, is the worst since 2017, fuelled by a years-long bid by Jewish settlers to take over Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem.
Speaking ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel ‘would decisively and responsibly impose law and order in Jerusalem’, while preserving ‘freedom of worship for all religious.’
Tunisia’s foreign ministry said it has called for a meeting Monday of the UN Security Council to discuss the escalating violence.
Some 121 Palestinians were wounded in Saturday’s overnight clashes, many hit by rubber bullets and stun grenades, the Palestinian Red Crescent said in an updated toll.
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Israeli police said 17 of its officers were wounded.
The previous night more than 220 people, again mostly Palestinians, were hurt after Israeli police stormed Al-Aqsa after they said Palestinians threw rocks and fireworks at officers.
Four Arab countries that have normalised ties with Israel — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan — all condemned the Israeli actions at Al-Aqsa, voicing support for Palestinians demonstrators.
Khartoum labelled Israeli measures in Jerusalem against Palestinians as “repression”, while Abu Dhabi urged Israeli authorities to “take responsibility for de-escalation.”
On Saturday night, thousands of Palestinians packed Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site which Jews revere as the Temple Mount, to hold special Ramadan prayers.
Saturday’s Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny) was a peak of the holy fasting month, believed to be the night when the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.
The prayers at Al-Aqsa were held peacefully, but violence flared elsewhere in east Jerusalem, in the West Bank and on the border between the blockaded Gaza Strip and Israel.
Israeli mounted police deployed outside Damascus Gate, a key access point to the Old City of Jerusalem, as agents fired stun grenades to disperse Palestinian protesters.
Palestinians pelted riot police with stones and set fire to a makeshift barricade, and a woman with a bloody face was escorted away from the scene by a rescuer, reporters said.
Police said they detained nine people for ‘disrupting public order‘ and warned that ‘all means will be used to maintain calm’.
Police also dispersed a rally in Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, where Palestinian families facing eviction from their homes in a dispute with Jewish settlers are expecting a Supreme Court decision on Monday (Today).
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK