Many injured in Palestinian-Israeli clash at Jerusalem holy site

JERUSALEM • At least 152 Palestinians were hurt during clashes with Israeli riot police inside Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound yesterday, extending a recent resurgence of violence that has raised fears of a slide back to wider conflict.

Most of the Palestinian injuries were incurred by rubber bullets, stun grenades and beatings with police batons, the Palestine Red Crescent said, at the most sensitive site in the generations-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli forces have been on high alert after a series of deadly Arab street attacks throughout the country in the past two weeks.

Confrontations at the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem's walled Old City pose the risk of sparking a slide back into a broader conflagration like last year's Gaza war.

The Al-Aqsa compound sits atop the Old City plateau of East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. It is known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount.

Israeli police said hundreds of Palestinians hurled firecrackers and stones at their forces and towards the Jewish prayer area of the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City after Ramadan morning prayers.

The police said they entered the Al-Aqsa compound to "disperse the crowd and enable worshippers to leave safely", adding that three officers were injured.

Police detained hundreds of Palestinians, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a tweet.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it "holds Israel fully and directly responsible for this crime and its consequences".

"Immediate intervention by the international community is needed to stop Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa mosque and prevent things from going out of control," said a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

REUTERS