Israeli soldiers clash with Palestinians at Al Aqsa

Occupied Jerusalem: Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers clashed at a flashpoint Occupied Jerusalem holy site on Sunday as overlapping Jewish and Muslim holidays led to tensions there, an AFP journalist reported.

Police fired sound grenades as Palestinian protests intensified at the highly sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Muslims as Al Haram Al Sharif--Islam’s third holiest site.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported injuries without specifying a number.

Sunday marked the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday and thousands of Palestinians prayed at the Al-Aqsa mosque.

It coincided with the Jewish Tisha B’av holiday, which typically sees an increase in Jewish visits to the holy site. In a bid to ease tensions, police barred Jewish visits to the site on Sunday but Muslim worshippers still feared they would be allowed in and protested there. The clashes with police broke out afterward.

Al Haram Al Sharif, which includes the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is one of the most sensitive sites in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It is located in east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in the 1967 War and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community.

Under a status quo agreement Jews are allowed to visit but not pray there to avoid provoking tensions.