New Clashes Reportedly Break Out at Al Aqsa Mosque as Hamas Supporters Urge ‘to Bomb Tel Aviv’

Over the past few weeks, almost 300 Palestinians have been injured in clashes at the Al Aqsa compound, which is Islam's third-holiest site. It is also Judaism's holiest place, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Fresh clashes broke out in Al Aqsa Mosque on Saturday morning after people with face coverings, who tried to confront police, were blocked by hundreds of Muslim worshippers, the Jerusalem Post has cited unnamed sources as saying.

The sources claimed that the people whose faces were covered waived a Hamas flag, saying “We are the people of [Hamas leader] Muhammad Deif” and “bomb Tel Aviv”.

The reported developments followed the Palestinian Red Crescent saying that at least 42 Palestinians had been injured in clashes after Israeli police forces raided the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem. The unrest took place on the final day in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Israeli police released footage that shows young men at the compound hurling stones and fireworks at the site in the early hours of Friday, when the police entered the mosque.

Police officers said in a statement said they went in to contain "rioters and lawbreakers", some of whom were trying to throw stones down towards the Western Wall, the sacred Jewish site below Al Aqsa.

According to the statement, the officers used “riot dispersal means” to contain the unrest as two people had been arrested, one for throwing stones and another - for “inciting the mob”.

The clashes come as part of a general flare-up in tensions that saw a string of deadly attacks in Israel, which resulted in massive police operations conducted by the Jewish state in the West Bank.

As a result, the Palestinians, enraged by the raids, held mass protests, and the Gaza Strip reportedly blasted Israel with rocket strikes.

The row over the status of Al Aqsa Mosque has been under way for a long time, since it is considered a holy site both in Judaism and Islam. Palestinians have repeatedly alleged that Jewish authorities have been hindering access to what is the third holiest site in Islam, especially by allowing large numbers of Jewish visitors into the area under police escort.

The Sunni militant organisation of Hamas controls Gaza and is in a protracted conflict with Tel Aviv. It has been declared a terrorist organisation in Israel, the United States, Canada, Japan, the European Union and Australia.

In the spring of 2021, Israel launched hundreds of air and missile strikes into Gaza after Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets into southern Israel, in what became the worst bilateral conflagration in recent years. Over 300 people were killed in the violence, mostly Palestinians.