Israeli police said they intervened on the night of Tuesday April 4 to Wednesday April 5 inside the al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem to dislodge “agitators” who had introduced “fires” there. fireworks, sticks and stones”. The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas reacted strongly by denouncing “an unprecedented crime”, before calling on Palestinians in the West Bank “to go en masse to the al-Aqsa mosque to defend it”.
Some 350 Palestinian worshipers, described as “rioters”, who had barricaded themselves inside the shrine, were arrested. The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Wednesday it had treated at least 37 wounded. A video widely circulated on social networks shows police clubbing people on the ground inside the building.
Israeli police released video footage longer than 50 seconds showing explosions of what appear to be fireworks inside the mosque, including figures throwing rocks. Another police video footage shows officers decked out in riot gear advancing through the mosque shielding themselves from rocket fire with shields. Footage then shows a barricaded door, batteries of fireworks on a carpet on the floor and police evacuating at least five people with their hands cuffed behind their backs. An officer was injured by a stone in the leg. Police denounced the action of masked “outlaws”.
After the announcement of the clashes at the al-Aqsa mosque, several rockets were fired from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory, according to AFP journalists and witnesses. AFP journalists saw three rockets fired from afar, and witnesses said they saw others, while the Israeli army reported the triggering of warning sirens in several Israeli urban areas around the Gaza Strip.
Antonio Guterres, the UN chief, said he was “shocked and appalled” by the “violence and beatings” by Israeli security forces. He stressed that this “time in the calendar, holy for Jews, Christians and Muslims, should be a time of peace and non-violence”, according to Stéphane Dujarric, his spokesman. The White House said it was “extremely concerned,” calling on “all parties to avoid further escalation.” For its part, Morocco, which normalized its relations with Israel, denounced “the aggression and terror of the faithful in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan”.
“Trampling Al-Aqsa Mosque is our red line,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during an iftar (Ramadan fast-breaking dinner) before a gathering of retirees. . “Turkey cannot remain silent in the face of these attacks.”
The Arab League, which held an extraordinary meeting, said it held Israel, the “occupying power”, responsible for the situation and warned against “provocations” hurting “the feelings of believers”. Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, claimed that the security forces had been “forced to act to restore order” in the face of “extremists”. Hussein al-Sheikh, the Palestinian civil affairs minister, blasted a “level of brutality requiring urgent Palestinian, Arab and international action” while Jordan, which administers Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, expressed alarm of “continued attacks that may lead to escalation”.
The al-Aqsa Mosque is located on the Esplanade of the Mosques, the third holiest site in Islam in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian sector of the Holy City occupied and annexed by Israel. The Esplanade is built on what the Jews call the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism.