The Palestinian presidency on Saturday accused Israel of deliberate escalation at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Official presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Israel was seeking to provoke violence after Israeli police killed Mohammed al-Osaibi, 26, from Naqab, at the entrance of the mosque.
The police alleged that he had attacked one of their members, claims his family has denied.
It accused the police of executing their loved one, challenging the authorities to release the footage of the incident.
Abu Rudeineh said the Israeli escalation at Al-Aqsa could cause the situation to implode.
He called on the international community, especially the US administration, to intervene and pressure the Israeli government to stop its crimes and attacks before it is too late.
On Friday, Israeli police claimed that Osaibi, a graduate of medical school in Romania and who recently passed an exam to practice medicine in Israel, attempted to grab a weapon from a border guard when he was shot and killed.
His family has called for a serious investigation into the crime, stressing that their son was executed in cold blood.
Member of the Israeli Knesset, Ayman Odeh, and former Knesset member Talab al-Saneh refuted the Israeli allegations.
Odeh said Osaibi was headed to pray at the mosque. He wanted to help a woman who was being assaulted by the police, but was “executed” by them even though he was unarmed.
Al-Saneh called on the police to release the footage of the incident.
On Saturday, the municipalities of Houra and neighboring Rahat announced a general strike in response to the killing.
Commenting on the killing, Israeli police issued on Saturday a second statement saying the man had grabbed a gun from a police officer who had stopped him for questioning and managed to fire two shots before he was killed by police.
