Jerusalem: more than 300 injured in new clashes on the Mosque esplanade

New clashes pitted Palestinian worshipers against Israeli police on Monday morning in the compound of the Mosques Esplanade in Jerusalem.

Hundreds of Palestinians threw projectiles at Israeli forces who used stun grenades in an attempt to disperse the crowd.

وابل من القنابل داخل المسجد القبلي والاحتلال يمنع الطواقم الطبية من إسعاف المصابين pic.twitter.com/bUCVCCF5S5

- قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) May 10, 2021

The Palestinian Red Crescent has reported more than 278 injured Palestinians, 205 of whom have been hospitalized.

According to Dr Adnane Farhoud, director general of Maqassed hospital, there are numerous injuries to the face and eyes from rubber bullets.

The Israeli police have wounded nine in their ranks.

A meeting of the UN Security Council scheduled for the day

The Islamist movement Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, threatened Israel with a military escalation if its forces did not withdraw from the Esplanade des Mosques on Monday evening.

Hamas gives Israel "until 6 p.m. tonight to withdraw its soldiers" from the Mosque Esplanade and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, the military spokesman warned in a brief statement. of the movement by suggesting strikes in case of refusal by the Israeli authorities.

Read alsoIsrael: 5 minutes to understand the new clashes that have hit Jerusalem

This resumption of violence coincided with "Jerusalem Day", marking according to the Hebrew calendar the conquest of East Jerusalem by the Hebrew state and often punctuated by clashes between Palestinians and Israelis. Faced with this escalation, a meeting of the UN Security Council is scheduled later in the day, at the request of Tunisia, on the situation in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector occupied by Israel for more than 50 years. This Monday afternoon, the organizers decided to cancel the march of young Israelis for "Jerusalem Day" in the Old City.

While international calls for calm multiply - France says in particular it fears "a large-scale escalation" and calls on all actors to "the greatest restraint" - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the "firmness" of the forces of order to guarantee "stability" in Jerusalem.

"We support them in this just struggle," he said, denouncing "misleading and erroneous" coverage, according to him, by the "international media" of the developments in Jerusalem.

Dozens of wounded evacuated

Early in the morning, hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinians threw projectiles at Israeli forces positioned inside the Mosques plaza as they controlled access to Islam's third holiest site called the Temple Mount. by Jews, noted an AFP journalist, who saw dozens of wounded evacuated from the plaza in screaming siren ambulances.

Not far from the plaza, and a sign of high tensions, a car carrying Israelis was the target of stones thrown and lost control before rushing towards Palestinians, according to the police and images of a journalist on the spot. .

Once immobilized, the vehicle was attacked by several people who threw projectiles at the passengers before an Israeli policeman dispersed them by firing into the air.

The Israeli police said in a statement to be at work to try to stop the violence on the esplanade but also "in other sectors of the Old City of Jerusalem".

“Prayer continues as usual” at the Western Wall, which adjoins the plaza, but “we will not allow extremists to threaten the safety of the public,” she added.

200 people injured in clashes on Friday

The sound of stun grenades was audible in other parts of Jerusalem like the sound of ambulance sirens.

The resumption of clashes coincides with the celebration according to the Hebrew calendar of the “Jerusalem Day” which marks the conquest of the eastern part of the city by Israel in 1967.

On Friday evening, more than 200 people were injured in clashes between police and Palestinians on the Mosque esplanade where tens of thousands of Palestinian worshipers were gathered for the last Friday prayer before the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. .

Saturday and Sunday calm returned to the plaza, but clashes continued between Palestinians and Israeli police in other areas of East Jerusalem.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the Jewish state "will continue to ensure freedom of worship, but will not allow violent riots" and "will uphold law and order."

One of the vectors of tension in recent weeks in East Jerusalem has been the plight of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood who are threatened with eviction in favor of Jewish settlers. A hearing of the Israeli Supreme Court in this case scheduled for Monday has been postponed "in light of the current context", according to the justice.