Clashes resume at Temple Mount after Friday afternoon prayers for Ramadan

Clashes resumed at the Temple Mount following Friday afternoon prayers for Ramadan, hours after Palestinians skirmished with Israeli police at the flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Tens of thousands of worshipers took part in the main prayers for the third Friday start of the Muslim holy month. There were no official turnout figures, but some Palestinian media reports estimated as many as 150,000 worshipers attended.

Many in attendance waved Palestinian and Hamas flags and chanted slogans in favor of the Gaza-ruling terror group, which called for a “mobilization” ahead of the prayers.

“We are the men of Muhammed Deif,” they chanted, referring to the head of Hamas’s military wing.

They also shouted about a seventh-century battle in which Muslim forces massacred and expelled Jews from the Arabian Peninsula town of Khaybar. Another chant included calls to violently “redeem Al-Aqsa,” the mosque atop the Temple Mount.

Video later showed a police drone dropping tear gas atop the Temple Mount to disperse a crowd.

Police drone seen deploying tear gas on the Temple Mount pic.twitter.com/1cUSu96D6J

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 22, 2022

Police said the crowd — brandishing Hamas flags — attempted to attack a locked police post on the Mount with stones. “The march was dispersed using riot dispersal means and it is currently calm in the area,” police said in a statement.

Among those at the prayers were Palestinians from the West Bank, who were allowed to visit the Temple Mount subject to restrictions put in place for Ramadan despite a military closure for the end of Passover.

There were no immediate reports of injuries in the resumed clashes. Earlier Friday, at least 31 Palestinians were hurt during clashes with police in the area. Police said a female officer was hit in the face by a rock thrown at her and was taken for medical treatment.

Police also said officers arrested a man in his 60s, from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina over an inciting speech he delivered before worshippers at the Temple Mount on Thursday night. According to police, the man, who is affiliated with the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir party, called to “liberate the mosque with weapons and force.”

Public Security Minister Omer Barlev visited a police station in the Old City during the rioting for a situational assessment with Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and the commander of the Jerusalem district, Doron Turgeman.

Shabtai later ordered reserve Border Police officers to be put on alert for immediate call-up over concerns the violence could spread to Arab cities like Umm al-Fahm and Nazareth, according to Hebrew media reports.

An unnamed security official told Channel 12 news and the Haaretz daily that Hamas has increased its efforts in recent days to incite a broader flareup, chiefly through the clashes at the Temple Mount. The source told the newspaper that the Waqf, a Jordanian-appointed council that oversees Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, attempted to prevent Palestinians from attacking police on Friday morning, with little success.

Similar violence has erupted almost daily at the Temple Mount since last Friday, when intense clashes broke out at the compound, which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Temple Mount is a frequent flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian tensions, with clashes there last year helping precipitate the 11-day military conflict between Israel and terror groups in the Gaza Strip after the enclave’s Hamas rulers fired rockets at Jerusalem. The site is the most sacred place for Jews as the location of the biblical temples, and Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits atop the Temple Mount, is the third-holiest site for Muslims.

The United Nations voiced deep concern over the recent violence. “We are deeply concerned by the escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel over the past month,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Jerusalem has been a tinderbox in recent weeks as Palestinians scraped with police on the flashpoint Temple Mount, the Ramadan and Passover holidays drew thousands to holy sites, Israeli security forces cracked down on terror in the West Bank, and Gaza terror groups stoked the flames.

On Thursday, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said that “we are still at the beginning of the battle” and warned Israel over the Temple Mount.

His comments came after Israel and Gaza-based terrorists clashed in the largest exchange of fire since last year’s fighting, with the military carrying out air raids in the Strip in response to rocket fire and the launch of anti-aircraft missiles.

Along with Gaza and Jerusalem, the West Bank has also been a locus of recent tensions as security forces have ramped up operations after 14 people were killed in a series of terror attacks carried out by Arab Israelis and Palestinians.

Troops have been carrying out extensive raids in the West Bank in response to the attacks, with at least 18 Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli forces. On Friday morning, a 20-year-old Palestinian who was shot by Israeli troops after allegedly hurling an explosive device at them in the town of Yamoun on Monday, died of his wounds.

Agencies contributed to this report.