Israeli police forces in the Old City of East Jerusalem on April 1, 2023. AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP
A “suspiciouswho allegedly tried to seize the weapon of an Israeli policeman in the Old City of Jerusalem wasneutralized“Israeli police announced on Saturday. According to the police, the incident occurred near the Chain Gate, one of the accesses to the esplanade of the Mosques, in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector of the Holy City, annexed by Israel. “The suspect was neutralized on the spot and there were no injuries within our forces“, indicates the police without further details in a brief press release while passers-by said they heard gunshots.
The incident came after a huge crowd of Palestinian worshipers gathered at the esplanade on Friday for the great midday prayer on the second Friday of Ramadan. A little before 1 a.m. (10 p.m. GMT Friday), an AFP photographer saw around 100 Israeli policemen deployed in the alleys of the Old City.
Israeli police, who guard the entrances to the esplanade, said more than 100,000 worshipers had gathered there, “almost twice as much as the second Friday of Ramadan last year», and that more than 2000 police had been mobilized across the city.
In recent weeks, several foreign chancelleries have expressed concern about possible violence as the Christian and Jewish Easter falls this year during Ramadan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has experienced a new outbreak of violence since the beginning of the year, including the intensity has dropped significantly over the past week.
On the esplanade, many Palestinians unfurled flags of the Islamist movement Hamas, considered “terroristby Israel, according to an AFP journalist, but the day had passed generally calmly until the incident at night.