Clashes at Jerusalem holy site, 117 Palestinians injured

Israel said its forces had entered the church to remove boulders and stones that had been gathered on the premises as a precaution against violence.

Site sacred to Jews and Muslims, often the focus of unrest between Israel and Palestine, and tensions have been running high amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year sparked 11 days of fighting with Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.

The clash in Jerusalem comes at a particularly sensitive time. This year’s month of Ramadan coincides with Passover – the great week-long Jewish holiday that begins on April 15, and the holy week with the Christian Easter Sunday.

This holiday is expected to bring tens of thousands of believers into Jerusalem’s old city, which has sacred sites for all three religions.

Videos circulating online showed Palestinians hurling rocks and fireworks while police fired tear gas and stun grenades into crowds around the mosque.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Service treated 117 people, many of whom were injured by rubber bullets, stun grenades or being beaten with batons.

Israeli police said that three officers were injured by “violent stone throwing”, and two were evacuated from the scene for treatment.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry reported that dozens of masked men carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags marched to the complex early on April 15 and collected stones. “Police were forced into the facility to disperse the crowd and remove rocks to prevent further violence,” Israel’s foreign ministry said on Twitter.

Palestinians consider any major police deployment in Al-Aqsa a major provocation. The mosque is the 3rd holiest site in Islam. The church, built on a hilltop in the old city of Jerusalem, is the holiest site for the Jews, known to the Jews as the Temple Mount because it was the site of ancient Jewish temples. It has been a major site of Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada.

Tensions have been high in recent weeks following a series of Palestinian attacks that left 14 people in Israel dead. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the West Bank, leading to clashes with the Palestinians. At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in the recent wave of violence, according to AP statistics.