JERUSALEM (AA) – Scores of worshippers suffered gas inhalation on Friday after Israeli police stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following the weekly prayers and clashed with worshippers.
Eyewitnesses said that Israeli forces stormed the mosque compound from the Silsila (Chain) and Al-Maghariba gates on the western side of the mosque and besieged worshippers inside the Qebli mosque, prompting young Palestinians and worshippers to hurl stones at the forces.
"Israeli forces fired gas into the Qebli mosque, which left scores suffering from gas inhalation," Sheikh Najeh Bakirat geh Bukairat, the head of the mosque, told Anadolu Agency.
He said that the clashes have spread into the Old City of Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem).
A number of worshippers have been arrested by Israeli forces, he added.
Tension has gripped Al-Quds after scores of Jewish settlers stormed Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site, on Wednesday on the occasion of the Jewish New Year.
Distressed Palestinians, meanwhile, responded by calling for mass protests inside the mosque compound in what they called a "Day of Mobilization."
Israeli authorities arrested dozens of Palestinians in the confrontations which ensued.
