Sawt Falasteen - Clashes erupt as Israel police storm flashpoint Jerusalem mosque

Armed police in riot gear stormed the mosque's prayer hall before dawn, with the goal of dislodging "law-breaking youths and masked agitators" who had barricaded themselves inside following evening prayers.

The officers were met with a barrage of rocks and fireworks, police video showed. More than 350 arrests were made in the raid, which drew threats from Palestinian groups and wide condemnation from Muslim countries.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir later offered his "complete backing" to police and their "swift and determined" actions.

Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called on West Bank Palestinians "to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa mosque to defend it".

Rockets were fired overnight from Gaza into Israel, without causing casualties, prompting retaliatory Israeli air strikes.

The mosque in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem is Islam's third holiest site. It is built on top of what Jews call the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

It has been a frequent flashpoint, particularly during Ramadan, and clashes there in May 2021 set off the latest Gaza war that raged for 11 days.

On Gaza's streets overnight, protesters burnt tyres and chanted: "We swear to defend and protect the Al-Aqsa mosque."

Calm had returned to the Al-Aqsa compound by late morning, when Israeli police escorted a small group of Jewish visitors through the site. An officer told an AFP journalist police were only allowing those aged 60 and over to access the compound.

- Rocks and fireworks -

Israeli police said the Palestinians had barricaded themselves inside the mosque from Tuesday evening, and ahead of Passover which starts Wednesday evening.

Israeli police moved in to apprehend the "agitators" who had fortified the site "to disrupt public order and desecrate the mosque", they said.

"After many and prolonged attempts to get them out by talking to no avail, police forces were forced to enter the compound in order to get them out with the intentions to allow the Fajr (dawn) prayer and to prevent a violent disturbance," the police statement added.

Police "detained the rioters", who had "caused damage to the mosque and desecrated it".

Within hours, at least nine rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, the army said, adding that five were intercepted by air defences, and four struck uninhabited areas.

"In response" Israeli fighter jets struck two suspected Hamas weapons manufacturing sites in the Gaza Strip, the army said.

The air strikes were followed by new rocket fire from Gaza, and at around 6:15 am (0415 GMT), Israeli jets carried out fresh strikes, AFP journalists reported.

No casualties were reported in the first salvo of strikes.

- 'Intensifying violence' -

Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh condemned the Israeli police action inside Al-Aqsa, saying "the level of brutality requires urgent Palestinian, Arab and international action".

Jordan, which administers the mosque, condemned its "storming", and called on Israeli forces to leave the compound immediately.

Saudi Arabia expressed its "categorical rejection" of actions that contradict "international principles and norms in respect of religious sanctities".

Egypt, which has frequently mediated in the conflict, said it "holds Israel, the occupying power, responsible for this dangerous escalation which could undermine the truce efforts in which Egypt is engaged with its regional and international partners".

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has descended into intensifying violence since the most right-wing government in Israel's history took office in late December under veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

So far this year, it has claimed the lives of at least 91 Palestinians, 15 Israelis and one Ukrainian, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

On the Palestinian side, the figures include combatants as well as civilians. On the Israeli side, they include two members of the Arab minority.

Z.AlNajjar--SF-PST