More than 200,000 Muslims took part in the final Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of east Jerusalem, as Israel heightened security following a Palestinian stabbing attack.
The religious authority in charge of the compound, the third holiest site in Islam, said in total 260,000 worshippers took part in the midday prayers.
TROOPS SHOOT DEAD
TWO PALESTINIANS
The prayers came only hours after a Palestinian teenager stabbed two Israelis inside the Old City before being shot dead by Israeli security.
In a separate incident, another Palestinian teenager, Abdullah Ghaith, 16, was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank as he sought to sneak into Jerusalem, reportedly to pray at Al-Aqsa.
In Jerusalem itself, a 19-year-old Palestinian stabbed one Israeli near the Damascus Gate and another near Jaffa Gate on the other side of the walled Old City, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.
“Police units that responded at the scene saw the fighter with a knife. The fighter was shot and killed,” Rosenfeld said.
The Palestinian health ministry later named him as Yusef Wajih from Abwein village in the central West Bank.
One of the Israelis wounded was a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed at the exit of a synagogue. A photograph of the teenager in a hospital bed was released by a government spokesman. The other victim, a 47-year-old man, was in serious condition, according to the hospital.
Later yesterday, Israeli police said a Palestinian “armed with a knife” had been arrested in the flashpoint city of Hebron in the West Bank.
The arrest took place near a key holy site known as the Ibrahimi Mosque .
Jerusalem’s Old City has been the scene of numerous stabbings of Israelis by Palestinian fighters in recent years, though a relative calm has existed for several months.
After the latest attack, gates to the Old City were briefly sealed before being reopened as thousands thronged towards the mosque. Inside the mostly uncovered mosque compound, water was sprayed on worshippers to keep them cool in the baking Jerusalem sun, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius. Despite a heavy police presence, there were no reports of further incidents.
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is a key religious and political symbol for Palestinians.
The attack came just two days before Israelis hold a major march to mark Jerusalem Day, the annual commemoration of the capture of east Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967.
It was later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.
Palestinians pray during Al-Quds prayer at Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, yesterday.
