Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have escalated dramatically as militant groups in Gaza fired rockets into Israel and Israel responded with strikes on the Palestinian coastal territory following a police raid on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem that left more than 300 people injured.
Israeli police stormed the sacred Jerusalem compound that holds the Dome of the Rock amid mounting international concern over the worsening violence in the city.
The European Union had called on authorities to ‘act urgently to de-escalate the current tensions in Jerusalem’. Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters inside a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site on Monday. Officers fired tear gas and stun grenades and protesters hurled stones and other objects at police.
Police said protesters threw stones from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound onto an adjoining roadway. Palestinians reported stun grenades fired into the mosque compound, with dozens injured.
The early-evening attack drastically escalated what already are heightened tensions throughout the region following weeks of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem. When the world is fighting with a pandemic, it cannot afford war between two nations. Peace is the need of the hour.