Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces mainly in east Jerusalem Tuesday amid heightened tensions in the city and following the declaration of a "day of rage and alarm" over Jerusalem. Israeli pPolice fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs in several neighbourhoods.
Six Palestinians were taken to hospital, including two with moderate to serious injuries -- one to the eye and the other to the shoulder -- according to the emergency services of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
According to AFP, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld stated two officers were hurt and 15 Palestinians detained.
A few hundred metres from the Qalandia checkpoint between Israel and the West Bank, dozens of Palestinian youths, several of them masked, set tyres ablaze and hurled molotov cocktails and stones at Israeli troops who fired rubber bullets.
In the Old City, shots heard from the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Israeli police forces prevented movement through much of the Old City. There were also clashes in the Shuafat refugee camp and other parts of east Jerusalem which Israel occupied in 1967.
For his part, deputy head of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied lands Kamal Al-Khatib told Al-Jazeera satellite channel on Tuesday that there were many casualties among Palestinian young men during the clashes that have broken out since the early morning hours.
In the Gaza Strip, thousands of people took to the streets, vowing to protect the Holy City. Khaled Mishaal, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, called for initiating an open campaign on Tuesday to protect occupied Jerusalem, the Aqsa Mosque and all Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine, warning that Israel’s practices would lead to the explosion of the region. “This is the beginning of an open-ended campaign for Jerusalem and the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine,” Mishaal said in a speech during an emergency meeting held on Monday by the alliance of Palestinian forces in Damascus.
