Israeli security forces at the Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City, April 5, 2023. (Credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters)
GAZA/JERUSALEM — Israeli police forcefully entered Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Wednesday to remove groups it said were barricaded inside, attacking worshippers and triggering an exchange of cross-border fire with Gaza.
The incident, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and on the eve of the Jewish Passover, came amid fears that tensions built up during a year of escalating violence could be unleashed at the Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites on both Islam and Judaism.
Palestinian militants fired at least nine rockets from Gaza into Israel overnight, prompting air strikes from Israel that hit what it said were weapon production sites for the Islamist group Hamas, which controls the blockaded coastal enclave.
Hamas did not claim responsibility for the rocket attacks but said that those who carried them out were responding to the Israeli raid on Al-Aqsa, where Israeli aggression set off a 10-day war with Gaza in 2021.
Israeli police detain a woman at the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem's Old City, April 5, 2023. (Credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters)
As ground-shaking explosions from Israeli airstrikes rocked Gaza, witnesses said Israeli tanks also shelled Hamas positions.
"We are not interested in an escalation, but we are ready for any scenario," said Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
As day broke, with international efforts underway to de-escalate the situation, tensions appeared to have settled in the mosque compound, where large crowds of worshippers spent the night, as is common during Ramadan.
The Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem's Old City, is Islam's third holiest site and tens of thousands come to pray there during Ramadan. Jews revere the same site as Temple Mount, a vestige of the first two biblical Jewish temples.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 12 Palestinians had sustained wounds during the raid, including from rubber-tipped bullets and beatings, in clashes with police. It added that Israeli forces had prevented its medics from reaching the area.
"In the yard to the eastern part of the compound, the police fired tear gas and stun grenades, it was a scene that I can't describe," said Fahmi Abbas, a worshipper who was at the mosque when the raid occurred. "Then they stormed in and started beating everyone. They detained people and put the young men face down on the ground while they continued beating them."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was working to calm the situation, which he said had been caused by "extremists" who allegedly barricaded themselves inside the mosque buildings with weapons, stones and fireworks.
"Israel is committed to maintaining freedom of worship, free access to all religions and the status quo on the Temple Mount and will not allow violent extremists to change that," Netanyahu said in a statement.
Stun grenades
Videos circulating on social media, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed fireworks going off and police beating people inside one of the mosque buildings. Police video showed Israeli police entering the building while firecrackers exploded in the darkness.
"I was sitting on a chair reciting [Quran]," an elderly woman told Reuters outside the mosque, struggling to catch her breath. "They hurled stun grenades, one of them hit my chest," she said as she began to cry.
Israeli police said in a statement that security units entered the compound after what it called "masked agitators" locked themselves inside the mosque.
"Following many continuous attempts to remove the individuals from the mosque using dialogue failed, police were forced to enter the compound in order to remove the individuals," Israeli police said.
"Throughout the presence of police forces in the compound, stones were thrown and multiple firecrackers were set off inside the mosque by many law-breaking individuals and rioters," the statement said, adding that two police officers were wounded.
Israeli police said more than 350 people were arrested and removed from the compound.
Israeli security forces take position at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, April 5, 2023. (Credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters)
Thousands of worshippers had spent the night at Al-Aqsa amid fears of possible violence.
Under the longstanding "status quo" arrangement governing the area, which Israel says it maintains, non-Muslims can visit but only Muslims are allowed to worship in the mosque compound. Jewish visitors have increasingly prayed more or less openly at the site in defiance of the rules.
The Waqf, the Jordanian-appointed Islamic organization that manages the complex, described the police actions as a "flagrant assault on the identity and the function of the mosque as a place of worship for Muslims alone."
"Leaders on all sides must act responsibly and refrain from steps that could escalate tensions," the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, said.
Condemnation
The incident drew sharp reactions from Arab countries and the Arab League, which criticized Israel's "extremist approach," said it would hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday.
Jordan and Egypt, both involved in recent US-backed efforts to de-escalate tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, issued separate statements strongly condemning the incident, while Saudi Arabia, with whom Israel hopes to normalize ties, said Israel's "storming" of Al-Aqsa undermined peace efforts.
"Israel's aggression against the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound is an egregious assault on the basic right of Palestinians to worship freely in their holy site," the Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement.
A foreign diplomat said United Nations representatives were involved in international efforts with all parties to de-escalate the situation.
People clean inside the Al-Aqsa compound on April 5, 2023. (Credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters)
Hazem Qassem, a spokesperson for Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, said the overnight rocket fire was a response to the police raid in the Al-Aqsa mosque and showed Israel would not be able to separate Gaza from the West Bank.
"The Zionist bombardment on Gaza was a failed attempt to prevent Gaza from continuing its support to our people in Jerusalem and the West Bank by all means," Qassem said.
However, neither Hamas nor the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad movement claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were instead claimed by the smaller Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Resistance Committees. The Israeli military said it holds Hamas responsible for all attacks from Gaza.
With Israel still reeling from weeks of domestic tension over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bitterly contested plans to rein in the powers of the Supreme Court, the violence added to an already-fevered political atmosphere.
Hardline Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has responsibility for the police but not the armed forces, called for a harsh response from Israel and said he asked to convene a meeting of the security cabinet.
"Hamas rockets require more than blasting dunes and empty sites. It's time to rip heads off in Gaza. We must not deviate from an equation that necessitates a serious response for each and every rocket," Ben-Gvir said in a tweet.
A Palestinian woman sits near Israeli border policemen in the Al-Aqsa compound on April 5, 2023. (Credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters)
In the West Bank town of Beit Ummar, protestors burned tires and threw rocks and explosive devices at Israeli soldiers, one of whom was shot and wounded. In another incident, an attacker opened fire on an Israeli army checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem without causing any casualties.
Over the past year, Israeli forces have made thousands of arrests in the West Bank and killed more than 250 Palestinians. More than 40 Israelis and three Ukrainians have died in Palestinian attacks.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City where the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is located, in a 1967 war and later illegally annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.
Correction: A previous version of this article used the term "clashes" to describe the Israeli attack on worshippers at Al-Aqsa. L'Orient Today has amended this language to reflect that the violence was indeed an Israeli attack.