Israeli Security Agents Deploy Force Against Palestinians in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (Sputnik) - The Israeli security service is continuing to use forceful means against Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for the third day already, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene om Tuesday.

Clashes on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, which houses Al-Aqsa (the third holiest site in Islam) and Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra Mosques, are continuing for the third day, and the Israeli security forces are using rubber bullets, noise bombs and tear gas.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli forces broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, clearing the temple of worshipers. They prevented other believers from reaching the Temple Mount and opened the Mughrabi gate to crowds of settlers who had been storming it in the morning.

On Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that over 340 Palestinians were injured in clashes with the Israeli forces in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Apart from Jerusalem, clashes also took place in Hebron, Bethlehem, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Nablus.

Israeli security forces fire tear gas during clashes with Palestinian protesters following a demonstration against Jewish settlements and in support of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, on the main street of Beita village in the occupied West Bank, on April 15, 2022.

© AFP 2023 / JAAFAR ASHTIYEH

The security situation in Israel has become more tense in recent weeks. On 10 April, IDF Chief of General Staff Aviv Kohavi ordered the military to strengthen "defensive efforts near the Judea and Samaria security barrier and increase counterterrorism activity in northern Samaria" after an attack in Tel Aviv on April 7. The IDF tweeted on April 13 that its soldiers and Israeli security forces continued to conduct "intelligence-based counterterrorism activities in Judea and Samaria overnight and this morning."