Israeli police and Palestinian civilians clashed and fought inside one of the holiest sites in Israel, leaving more than 300 people injured.
The police force used tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets as they fought with Palestinians, who used stones as their defense, at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Monday, according to the Associated Press.
More than 305 Palestinians were injured, while 228 had to go to the hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Seven of those people were listed as being in serious condition. Twenty-one Israeli officers were hurt, and three needed to be hospitalized.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION CALLS VIOLENCE IN JERUSALEM ‘UNACCEPTABLE’
Monday’s confrontation was the latest in a series of conflicts as tensions between the two sides has increased due to Israel‘s planned evictions of several Palestinian families living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
On Friday night, Palestinian worshippers fought with Israeli police at the mosque, which left more than 130 people wounded in the violence, 83 of whom were hospitalized, the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said. The Israeli government said six officers were wounded.
The Israeli Supreme Court was supposed to hold a hearing on Monday on the matter but was delayed amid the violence, according to the Wall Street Journal.
On Sunday, United States national security adviser Jake Sullivan urged Israeli national security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat not to exacerbate the already high tensions.
U.S. officials will “press for steps to ensure calm, deescalate tensions, and denounce violence,” Sullivan said, while also noting that the launching of rocket attacks from Gaza toward Israel “is unacceptable and must be condemned.”
Sullivan added that the Biden administration has “serious concerns about the potential evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.”
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Ben-Shabbat pushed back on Sullivan and members of the international community for weighing in.
“International intervention is a reward to the Palestinian rioters and those who back them who were seeking international pressure on Israel,” he said, according to Axios, which cited an anonymous Israeli official briefed on the call.
