Israeli police entered Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque before dawn and clashed with worshippers, setting off a furious reaction from Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and crossborder strikes in 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 Israeli-Palestinian violence could be unleashed at the Al-Aqsa mosque, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
As day broke, with international efforts underway to de-escalate the situation, tensions appeared to have calmed in Al-Aqsa, where large crowds of worshippers spent the night as is common during Ramadan. Israeli police said in a statement that security units were forced to enter the compound after what it called masked agitators locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks and stones.
The Waqf, the Jordanian-appointed Islamic organisation that manages the complex, considered the third holiest site in the Muslim world, 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".The incident drew a sharp reaction from Arab countries. Jordan and Egypt, both involved in recent U.S.
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. 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 had asked to convene a meeting of the security cabinet.
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