Hundreds of Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday, which marked the second day of the celebration of the Jewish New Year. They were protected by Israeli police forces, who restricted Muslim worshipers from entering the mosque.
This led to violent clashes. Many were wounded and others were arrested.
The Islamic Waqf Authority in Jerusalem reported that dozens of settlers stormed the mosque in successive groups and performed Talmudic rituals under tight protection from Israeli police.
The police, which had declared a state of maximum alert since Sunday evening, had deployed thousands of its officers in the city.
The police also deployed dozens of fixed and mobile checkpoints, citing more threats arising in time for the Jewish holiday.
Settlers stormed the mosque, after the police surrounded it and pushed more of its forces into the Old City of Jerusalem, to prevent Palestinians from reaching Al-Aqsa.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of the real dangers to which Al-Aqsa is exposed, because of the gradual Judaization of the mosque and its courtyards.
“The escalation in the performance of more Talmudic prayers and rituals inside Al-Aqsa, is an attempt to divide it temporally while on the path of legitimizing its spatial division,” said the Foreign Ministry.
Violent clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police forces had erupted on Monday at several locations in East Jerusalem.
Israeli police accused masked Palestinians of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at their members.
