Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the clashes broke out on the esplanade of the Aksha Mosque.
The Aksa Mosque is located in the Old City of Jerusalem, in what is called the Temple Mount by the Jews and by Al Musam Asharif, the Muslim Shrine of the Noble Shrine. The mosque complex is the third most important Muslim shrine after Mecca and Medina and the most significant shrine of Judaism, home to the Jerusalem temple described in the Bible.
“Hundreds of people were stabbed by police with rocks and fireballs,” Rosenfeld said, noting that police had responded and started dispersing the crowd.
A AFP reporter from Jerusalem’s Old City reports that clashes continue and police use rubber bullets and noise grenades.
Two weeks ago, a similar clash in the Aqsa Mosque complex and the threat of Jewish colonists to evict Palestinians in annexed East Jerusalem led to the outbreak of hostilities between the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip. Hamas and the Israeli army.
Since May 10, some 230 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, and rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have killed 12 people in Israel.
On Friday night, both sides agreed on a ceasefire.
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