The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said dozens of worshippers who were spending the night praying were injured in the police raid. JERUSALEM —
Israeli police stormed into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City early Wednesday, firing stun grenades at Palestinian youths who hurled firecrackers at them in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday season. Palestinian militants in Gaza responded with rocket fire on southern Israel, prompting repeated Israeli airstrikes.
The fighting, coming as Muslims mark the holiday month of Ramadan and Jews prepare to begin the Passover festival on Wednesday evening, raised fears of a wider conflagration.
The mosque sits in a sensitive hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims. Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam and is typically packed with worshippers during Ramadan. The spot, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is also the holiest site in Judaism, revered as the location of the biblical Jewish temples. The conflicting claims have spilled over to violence before, most recently a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic military group that rules Gaza.
By early morning, the Jerusalem compound had quieted down. A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said the Palestinian Authority was in contact with officials in Egypt, Jordan, the United States and the United Nations to de-escalate tensions. The Palestinian Red Crescent said that 50 people were injured. Separately, the Israeli military said one soldier was shot in the occupied West Bank. Crowds of Palestinians gathered around a police station in Jerusalem on Wednesday, waiting anxiously for their loved ones — many of them wearing blood-stained shirts and limping on bandaged legs — to trickle out of detention.
People leaving detention said police used batons, chairs, rifles and whatever else they could find to strike Palestinians, including women and children, who responded by setting off firecrackers and hurling stones. Outside the mosque’s gate, police dispersed crowds of young men with stun grenades and rubber bullets. Israeli police said they were not immediately able to confirm the reports and videos showing officers beating Palestinians… Source: nbcnews.com
Saturday, April 18, 2026
