TEL AVIV – More than 150 people were wounded Friday in clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police at Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the first face-off in the area since the start of Ramadan.
Israeli police said “dozens of masked men” marched into Al-Aqsa setting off fireworks before crowds hurled stones towards the Western Wall — considered the holiest site where Jews can pray.
Witnesses said Palestinians threw stones at Israeli forces, who fired rubber-coated bullets and sound grenades.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 153 people were hospitalised and “dozens of other injuries” were treated at the scene. Israeli police said at least three officers were hurt.
Around 400 people were arrested, said the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, a group which supports inmates, AFP reported.
The clashes come after three tense weeks of deadly violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, and as the Jewish festival of Passover and Christian Easter overlap with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
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