New clashes erupted today, May 10, in the area of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between Palestinians and Israelis after local police tried to disperse the crowd, including using rubber bullets. Hundreds of protesters were injured as a result, Al-Arabiya TV reported, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent.
“Hundreds of people were injured in the clashes, about 50 of them were hospitalized”, – he said in a statement to reporters.
The number of hospitalized people later rose to 80, according to the Associated Press. Israeli security forces are also said to have fired stun grenades and tear gas. Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police have continued in recent days in parts of East Jerusalem, including Sheikh Jarrah and outside the walled Old City.
From the traditionally restless Jerusalem, unrest spread even to the port city of Haifa, where there are neighborhoods with a mixed Arab-Jewish population. The clashes were triggered by the planned eviction of several Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah area of East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 war, the Pan-Arab TV channel said.
This Monday, the UN Security Council will discuss rising tensions in East Jerusalem over Al-Aqsa, Islam’s third-largest mosque. Discussion in the main body of the United Nations was requested by almost two-thirds of the current 15-member Security Council: China, France, Vietnam, Tunisia, Ireland, Estonia, Norway, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.