After a stone was thrown, the Israeli police stormed the holy site in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli police officers in full riot gear stormed a sensitive Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims on Friday after Palestinian youths hurled rocks at a gate where they were stationed.

The renewed violence at the site sacred to Jews and Muslims came even as Israel temporarily halted Jewish visits in what Palestinians see as a provocation.

Palestinians and Israeli police have regularly clashed at the site over the past week amid heightened tensions following a series of deadly attacks in Israel and arrest raids in the occupied West Bank. Three rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The series of events has raised fears of a repeat of last year, when protests and violence in Jerusalem eventually boiled over and helped spark an 11-day Gaza war and communal violence in Israel’s mixed cities.

Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers are expected for the main weekly prayers later in the day as they mark the holy month of Ramadan.

Palestinian youths threw stones at police at a gate leading into the compound, according to two Palestinian witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. The police then entered the premises in full riot gear and fired rubber bullets and stun grenades.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Medical Service said at least 27 Palestinians were injured, two of them seriously. There was no immediate comment from Israel, which is largely closed for the end of the week-long Jewish Passover holiday.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam. The expansive esplanade on which it is built is the holiest site for Jews, who they refer to as the Temple Mount because two Jewish temples stood here in ancient times. It lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and clashes there have often sparked violence elsewhere.

Palestinians and neighboring Jordan, the site’s custodian, accuse Israel of violating long-standing agreements by allowing increasing numbers of Jews to visit the site under police escort.

A long-standing ban on Jews praying at the site has eroded in recent years, fueling fears among Palestinians that Israel plans to take over or carve up the site.

Israel says it remains committed to the status quo and is rolling back violence at the instigation of the militant Islamic group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. It says its security forces are acting to remove rock throwers to ensure religious freedom for Jews and Muslims.

Visits by Jewish groups have been halted, as in the past, from Friday for the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

This year, Ramadan coincided with Passover and major Christian holidays, with tens of thousands of people from all three faiths pouring into the Old City after most coronavirus restrictions were lifted.

The Old City is in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in an internationally unrecognized move and considers the entire city its capital. The Palestinians aspire to an independent state in all three territories and regard East Jerusalem as their capital.