Clashes erupted inside the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem early on Wednesday as Israeli police said they had entered to dislodge 'agitators', a move denounced as an 'unprecedented crime' by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
Police claimed the forced entry was to remove a group of 'agitators'. Clashes erupted inside the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem early on Wednesday as Israeli police said they had entered to dislodge"agitators", a move denounced as an"unprecedented crime" by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
The mosque compound in the Israeli-annexed Old City of east Jerusalem has previously seen clashes and violence between Palestinians and Israelis, particularly during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which draws tens of thousands of worshippers to Al-Aqsa.The fresh violence comes nearly halfway through Ramadan and as Jews prepare to celebrate Passover from Wednesday evening.
The footage then shows a barricaded door and boxes of fireworks on the floor as well as police escorting at least five people outside with their hands cuffed behind their backs.Israeli police said they were forced to enter the mosque after"several law-breaking youths and masked agitators" with fireworks, sticks and stones barricaded themselves inside.
Police"detained the rioters" who"caused damage to the mosque and desecrated it", the statement added, without specifying the number of people detained. Egypt condemned the Israeli police's"storming" of the Al-Aqsa mosque and"the accompanying blatant attacks" on worshippers."Egypt holds Israel, the occupying power, responsible for this dangerous escalation which could undermine the truce efforts in which Egypt is engaged with its regional and international partners," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
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