Palestinian worshipers clashed with Israeli police on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Friday afternoon, amid fears of renewed fighting with the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip over the situation in the Holy City.
Police said the clashes began after Friday afternoon prayers at the holy site in the Old City with a procession of several hundred people, dozens of whom refused to disperse when they arrived at the exit to the compound and began hurling rocks at police.
Nine Palestinians were wounded by officers’ sponge-tipped bullets and stun grenades, and at least one from a stone thrown by the crowd, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Three of the wounded were hospitalized, the organization said.
Police said they arrested 16 people for throwing stones and rioting.
Palestinian worshipers could be seen raising the Palestinian flag following the Friday prayers.
The clashes occurred after the Israel Defense Forces conducted airstrikes on Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Thursday night in response to ongoing arson attacks from the enclave.
Last month’s round of fighting with the Gaza-based terror groups came following violent clashes in Jerusalem.
Palestinian terror groups tied May’s rocket fire from Gaza to unrest in the capital connected to both prayer on the Temple Mount during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the pending eviction of a number of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
Since the fighting ended, Hamas has repeatedly warned that it could reopen hostilities over developments in Jerusalem, and has responded with increased belligerence to plans for the march.
IDF hits targets across Gaza after arson attacks, readies for renewed fighting
The Israel launched airstrikes on Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Thursday night in response to ongoing arson attacks from the enclave, the Israel Defense Forces said. A month after an 11-day conflict raged between Israel and Hamas, with the fragile ceasefire under heavy strain, the army chief ordered the IDF to prepare for a resumption of fighting.
During the Israeli raids, air raid sirens wailed in the Israel community of Kfar Aza near the Gaza border in what the military said was a false alarm, likely triggered by heavy gunfire by Palestinian militants at Israeli aircraft.
At least eight fires were sparked in southern Israel on Thursday, four on Wednesday, and more than two dozen on Tuesday, by balloon-borne incendiary devices launched from the Strip, according to the Israeli Fire and Rescue Services.
According to Palestinian media, one Israeli strike Thursday night targeted a Hamas-controlled building in the Gaza city of Beit Lahiya. Additional strikes were reported on a six-story Hamas-run civil administration building in northern Gaza, a Hamas base near Khan Younis, a site near Gaza City, and agricultural fields allegedly housing underground rocket launchers in southern Gaza. There were no immediate reports of Palestinian casualties.
Confirming it had conducted the strikes, the IDF said the targets included a launchpad near Khan Younis, which could be seen in video footage shared on social media (below), and various other Hamas military sites in the Strip. The military also released its own video footage of the strikes (above).
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