HUNDREDS HURT IN LATEST CLASHES
Violence erupts at al-Aqsa mosque as Palestinians confront Israeli riot police ahead of Jewish march
More than 300 people were wounded in new clashes yesterday between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem as a planned march marking Israel’s 1967 takeover of the holy city threatened to further inflame tensions.
Palestinians hurled stones at Israeli officers in riot gear who fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas on the esplanade of the revered al-Aqsa mosque following a night of sporadic clashes.
“There are hundreds of people injured from the clashes” and about 50 were admitted to hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent said about the latest unrest since violence escalated following the last Friday prayers of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Loud booms and angry screams echoed from the ancient stone walls of the compound, revered by both Jews and Muslims, where tear gas filled the air and the ground was littered with rocks, stun grenade fragments and other debris.
The violence was the latest in days of the worst such disturbances in Jerusalem since 2017, fuelled by a long-running bid by Jewish settlers to take over nearby Palestinian homes in Israeliannexed east Jerusalem.
Despite mounting international condemnation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he supported the Israeli police force’s “just struggle” amid the unrest.
“We will uphold law and order – vigorously and responsibly,” he said. “We insist on guaranteeing the [religious] rights of all, and this from time to time requires the stability and steadfastness that the Israeli police and our security forces are currently displaying.”
Police said Jewish “prayers continue as usual” at the nearby Wailing Wall, adding that “we will not let extremists threaten the safety of the public”.
The UN Security Council was to meet at Tunisia’s request late yesterday to discuss the unrest.
Meanwhile, a key court hearing scheduled for yesterday on Sheikh Jarrah, the flashpoint east Jerusalem neighbourhood at the centre of the property dispute, was postponed.
There were fears of further violence ahead of a planned march by Israelis to commemorate the takeover of Jerusalem in the 1967 six-day war, an anniversary known as “Jerusalem Day” in the Jewish state. Israeli police had, as of Sunday, approved the march, which was rescheduled to start at 5pm local time.
The Palestinian Red Crescent put the toll at 305 injured, including more than 200 who were admitted to hospital, five of them in critical condition. Three people lost one eye each, said surgeon Firas Abu Akari at east Jerusalem’s Maqassed hospital.
Near the Old City, a car carrying Israelis was pelted with stones, lost control and rammed into Palestinians, according to footage from a journalist on the scene.
Once stopped, the vehicle was attacked by about a dozen people who continued to hurl projectiles at the passengers before Israeli police officers dispersed the crowd by firing into the air.
The Israeli police reported nine injuries in their ranks.
The United States expressed “serious concerns” about the situation. In a White House statement, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan “encouraged the Israeli government to pursue appropriate measures to ensure calm during Jerusalem Day commemorations”.
Much of the recent violence stems from a long-running legal effort by Jewish settler groups to evict several Palestinians from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah.
A lower-court ruling this year backing the settlers’ decades-old claim to the plots infuriated Palestinians.