Israeli troops carried out on Friday a raid on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, arresting a number of youths suspected of clashing with forces outside the compound.
A police spokesman said the troopers were sent into al-Aqsa, Islam’s third holiest site, after suspects who had barricaded themselves in after running confrontations in the surrounding compound, during which masked men launched firecrackers from handheld canisters.
There was no immediate word of any violence in the mosque, whose older male worshippers said they had been allowed to exit after being searched. Witnesses later saw around 20 younger men detained by police, and said mosque prayers later resumed.
Police put the number of arrests at 24, and said four of its officers were injured in the melee. Muslim authorities said dozens of people were hurt by Israeli police stun grenades.
“The continued Israeli attacks against occupied Jerusalem will increase tensions and will drag the region into a religious war that we have long warned against,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s office said in a statement.
The raid on al-Aqsa came hours after troops searched the West Bank village of a Palestinian teenager who broke into a settlement home and stabbed three Israelis, including one who later died from his wounds.
The military said it detained four Palestinians for questioning and set up security checkpoints at entrances to Kauber, the assailant's village, north of Jerusalem.
The 17-year-old attacker was shot and killed at the scene on Thursday night.
Israeli forces measured the attacker's house ahead of its planned demolition, the military said. Israel typically demolishes the homes of Palestinian attackers calling it a deterrent measure, but critics consider the policy collective punishment.
The settlement located about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Jerusalem is also called Geva Binyamin.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued a statement saying "the best answer to terrorism" is Israeli settlement in the West Bank, adding that he will advance the building of hundreds of housing units in Adam in the coming weeks.
Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and has since built dozens of settlements there.
Much of the international community views the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace.
