Israeli security forces and Palestinians clash in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Square May 21, 2021
Fresh clashes erupted between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli police in the mosque square in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday, May 21, the day a ceasefire went into effect in Gaza. Two weeks ago, similar clashes sparked a bloody confrontation between Hamas and Israel in Gaza that left hundreds dead.
The clashes began after Friday Muslim prayers, with some of the large number of Palestinians attending Friday prayers chanting slogans in support of the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and who threw stones and other objects at Israeli police in the mosque square, an AFP reporter reported from the scene.
The situation was tense Friday morning at the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest place in Judaism. Hundreds of people threw rocks and Molotov cocktail explosives at police, who fired back,” according to Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld in a statement.
Israeli police deployed at the entrance to the Grand Mosque Square (the Jewish “Temple Mount”) fired stun grenades and rubber bullets at the demonstrators, AFP noted. According to the Red Crescent, 20 people were injured in the clashes, two of whom were hospitalized.
Calm was restored to the Grand Mosque Square on Friday afternoon. Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police that erupted here two weeks ago on May 7 were over Israeli threats to evict some Palestinian families in favor of Israeli settlers in another East Jerusalem neighborhood, according to AFP.
The violence in East Jerusalem two weeks ago then escalated into a military confrontation between the Israeli army and Islamist militant groups such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday night, Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas declared a cease-fire, brokered by Egypt, after 11 days of clashes that left 243 Palestinians dead and 12 Israelis dead.
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