Hundreds of Palestinians barricade themselves in the Al Aqsa Mosque

8 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

Hundreds of Palestinians have locked themselves in the Al Aqsa Mosque, in the Jerusalem Mosques Esplanade, and refuse to leave the place in the middle of Ramadan, which could lead to serious clashes with Israeli forces.

Police entered the area shortly after the Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the mosque as Jordan’s foreign ministry — the country formally in charge of Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites — has warned of “catastrophic consequences” if the Palestinians Agents break into Al Aqsa to evict the Palestinians. Haman has warned that an eviction would cause “more tension and violence and everyone would pay the price.”

For his part, a Hamas spokesman, Mohamed Hamadé, has warned that “the occupation’s aggression will only have the resistance as a response and the resistance is ready to respond to the occupation’s crimes in proportion to the scope of the crime.”

Hamadé has pointed out to the Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, and “his government” that “they will have full responsibility for what happens in the Al Aqsa Mosque and those who are inside.” “Al Aqsa is a red line and to attack it is to activate the detonators that will begin to explode in the face and flanks of the occupation”, he has threatened.

Last week there were already serious clashes between Muslim faithful and the Israeli Police when dozens of Palestinians locked themselves in the Al Aqsa Mosque on the eve of the Jewish Passover. The Police burst in with stun grenades and the entrenched responded with fireworks and stones. Dozens of Palestinians were injured and detained.

Shortly after, ten rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory and in the following two days there were rocket launches from Gaza and also from Lebanon, to which Israel responded with bombardments.

The Esplanade of the Mosques -or Temple Mount for the Jews- is the religious heart of East Jerusalem and rests on one of its sides on the Wailing Wall, the last vestige of the Jewish Solomon’s Temple, for which Muslims They fear that Israel will seek to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque — Islam’s third holiest site — in order to build a Jewish Third Temple in Jerusalem.