Israel boosts police presence in Jerusalem to curb Ramadan unrest
'Police call on the worshipers to act to prevent those lawbreakers from disrupting the Muslims’ Ramadan routine and desecrating the [Al Aqsa] mosque'
Israel Police said that it will boost its presence for Friday Ramadan prayers in Jerusalem, after rockets were fired at Israel by terror groups in Gaza and Lebanon in an apparent response to violent clashes on the Temple Mount between Israeli forces and Palestinian worshipers earlier this week.
Around 2,300 police officers, Border Police, are other security forces will deploy throughout Jerusalem, in particular around the Old City and east Jerusalem, as well as checkpoints entering the capital, police said. Several roads around the Old City will also be shut to vehicular traffic from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. IL time.
“In the past two days, we have seen hundreds of rioters and lawbreakers who barricaded themselves on the Temple Mount in an attempt to destroy the routine [Ramadan] prayers and visits to the Temple Mount,” Jerusalem Police said in a statement.
“Police call on the worshipers to act to prevent those lawbreakers from disrupting the Muslims’ Ramadan routine and desecrating the [Al Aqsa] mosque,” it added.
The announcement came shortly after 37 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, which followed an overnight attack in which several anti-aircraft projectiles were launched from Gaza to Israel’s south. Israeli ministers and officials were holding a security cabinet meeting to decide how to retaliate.
Al Aqsa, which sits atop the holy plateau in Jerusalem’s Old City, is one of the most sensitive sites in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Friday prayers usually see tens of thousands of Muslims flock to Islam's third-holiest site, many times leading to confrontations with Israeli forces.