© Reuters. A member of the Israeli security forces stands guard at the compound housing the Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, as tensions rise during clashes in the Old City Jerusalem, April 9, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awá
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By Ilan Rozenberg and Sinan Abu Mayzer
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Ramadan prayers and Passover visits at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound passed without incident on Sunday, after days of tension in the siege of Jerusalem that sparked cross-border exchanges of fire.
Small groups of Jewish visitors under heavy police guard walked through the mosque complex, known in Judaism as the Temple Mount, as thousands of worshipers gathered for the special Passover holiday “Priestly Blessing” at the Wall. of the Lamentations
The Al-Aqsa compound, sacred to Muslims and Jews, has been at the center of a security crisis that erupted last week when Israeli police raided the mosque to evict what they said were youths holed up inside armed with stones and fireworks.
Footage of the raid, which showed police beating worshipers, sparked a furious reaction across the Arab world, prompting rocket attacks on Israel by Palestinian factions that were met with Israeli strikes at sites in Gaza, the south. from Lebanon and Syria.
There were no reports of casualties.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese armed Shiite movement Hezbollah, met with Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Lebanon, the group said on Sunday, and they discussed the events at Al-Aqsa.
Israeli security experts have said Iran-backed Hezbollah likely gave its permission to the Islamist Hamas to fire the rockets from Lebanon.
“Our enemies were wrong when they thought that the citizens of Israel were not united in support of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces),” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing unprecedented protests in his country against the changes, said in a statement. judicial.
In Gaza, Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman urged “all fronts to unite and face the escalation of the arrogant (Israeli) occupation.”
HOLIDAY CLOSING
The Israeli army said that, in light of the security situation, it would extend the closure of the West Bank and Gaza until April 13, when Passover ends.
On Friday, two Israeli sisters from a settlement in the occupied West Bank were killed when their car was attacked by suspected Palestinian gunmen. Hours later, an Italian tourist was killed when a car driven by a man from an Arab town in Israel crashed into a group at a beachside park in Tel Aviv.
The funeral of the two sisters, who hold dual Israeli and British citizenship, will take place later on Sunday.
After a year of escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians, tensions are especially high when Ramadan and Passover coincide, with a focus on the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City. Clashes there between police and worshipers helped spark a 10-day war between Israel and Gaza in 2021.
As in previous years, the government is expected to bar non-Muslims from the compound during the last 10 days of Ramadan, which is expected to end on April 20 or 21, although far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben -Gvir, you have asked that the ban not be imposed this year.