After tense night, thousands pray at Jerusalem’s Western Wall By Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Daybreak Ramadan prayers on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound ended peacefully on Sunday after days of heightened stress on the flashpoint Jerusalem website, as a mass‮ ‬Passover benediction on the adjoining Western Wall started.

Small teams of Jewish guests beneath heavy police guard walked via the mosque compound, identified in Judaism as Temple Mount, as 1000’s of worshippers gathered for the Passover’s particular “Priestly Blessing” on the Western Wall beneath.

The Al-Aqsa compound – sacred to Muslims and Jews – has been on the centre of a safety disaster set off final week when Israeli police raided the mosque to dislodge what they mentioned have been youths barricaded inside armed with rocks and fireworks.

Footage of the raid, displaying police beating worshippers, triggered a livid response throughout the Arab world, sparking rocket assaults on Israel by Palestinian factions that have been met with Israeli strikes on websites in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

In a single day into Sunday, not less than six rockets have been launched in the direction of the Israeli-held Golan Heights from Syria, whereas Israeli jets struck Syrian army targets in response. There have been no reviews of casualties on both facet.

At Al-Aqsa, the particular Tarawih Ramadan prayer on Saturday night time ended peacefully regardless of fears violence would erupt there as soon as extra.

On Friday, two Israeli sisters from a settlement within the occupied West Financial institution have been killed when their automobile got here beneath fireplace by suspected Palestinian gunmen, Hours later, an Italian vacationer was killed when a automobile pushed by a person from an Arab metropolis in Israel ploughed into a bunch in a shoreline park in Tel Aviv.

The funeral of the 2 sisters, who had twin Israeli and British nationality, is because of be held afterward Sunday.

After a yr of escalated Israeli-Palestinian violence, tensions are operating particularly excessive as Ramadan and Passover coincide, with a give attention to the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s walled Previous Metropolis. Clashes there between police and worshippers helped spark a 10-day warfare Israel-Gaza warfare in 2021.

As in earlier years, the federal government is predicted to ban entry to the compound to non-Muslims for the final 10 days of Ramadan, which is predicted to finish on April 20 or 21.

Far-right Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has referred to as for the ban to not be imposed this yr.