Israeli police on Tuesday assaulted guards stationed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and evacuated eight right-wing Israelis amid increased tensions around the flashpoint site during the Jewish Passover holiday.
Witnesses told Ma'an that nearly 130 Jewish Israelis raided the Aqsa compound under armed guard via the Moroccan gate in occupied East Jerusalem's Old City.
Guards protecting the flashpoint site attempted to intervene when members of the group began performing religious rituals, in contravention to longstanding agreements between Jordan and Israel regarding the holy site, at which point Israeli forces assaulted the guards, witnesses said.
Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said eight right-wing Jews in total "violated the rules and regulations" stipulated for non-Muslim visitors during the visit and were evacuated from the site.
The tour was the most recent to take place in occupied East Jerusalem's Old City where the Aqsa compound is located. The area was placed under heightened security by the Israeli authorities as police attempted to quash potential unrest that often erupts during religious holidays.
Ahead of Passover, right-wing Israeli groups called for Jewish followers to carry out sacrifices at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. A number of Israelis have been evacuated or detained from the site since for violating a longstanding agreement between Israel and the Jordanians that prohibited non-Muslim worship at Aqsa.
Visitation by such groups, many of whom call for the destruction of Aqsa to make way for the Third Temple, stokes tensions among Palestinians who view the move as a major threat to their right to worship at the site and a reflection of Israel's ongoing military occupation of East Jerusalem.
At least 70 Palestinians were banned from Aqsa this month in what critics say was in preparation for increased visitation by Jewish right-wingers to the site.
The security crackdown came as the Israeli authorities suspended visits to Aqsa for Palestinians from Gaza and bolstered Israeli military presence at checkpoints between the occupied West Bank and Israel.
The Jordanian government, who holds joint control over the site with the Palestinians, warned Israel Monday of "dangerous consequences" for allowing continued provocations at the holy site.
Tensions surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound were heightened last summer and served as one of the key triggers for a wave of violence that swept the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in October.
