JERUSALEM – Palestinians wounded in clashes with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound have filled the halls of an east Jerusalem hospital, where several had lost an eye after being hit by rubber bullets.
Ezzedine, a 19-year-old carpenter from the West Bank city of Nablus, said yesterday that doctors at the large Makassed Hospital told him he would not regain sight in his left eye after being injured at the flashpoint site.
He said he came to Al-Aqsa to perform Ramadan prayers on Friday night when police began firing stun grenades and tear gas in clashes that saw Palestinians hurl rocks and other projectiles.
“They want to take a place that’s not theirs,” he said, referring to Israel’s actions at Islam’s third holiest site, which is also revered by Jews who call it the Temple Mount.
Israel has insisted it is committed to the rights of Muslims to worship at Al-Aqsa, but that it has been forced to suppress riots at the compound instigated by Palestinians.
Rights group Amnesty International argued that “Israeli forces have repeatedly deployed disproportionate and unlawful force to disperse protesters during violent raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
More than 700 Palestinians, and more than two dozen Israeli police, have been wounded since Friday in violence at Al-Aqsa and in other parts of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
The youngest of six brothers and sisters, Ezzedine declined to give his last name because he had slipped into Jerusalem illegally to pray.
Makassed director-general Adnan Farhoud said the hospital had received over 200 patients since the unrest began.
Most injuries were to the head, chest and limbs, he said – arguing the wounds showed that Israeli forces intended to cause significant injury.
When “you mean to harm someone, you shoot at the head”, he said.
Police said nine officers were hurt yesterday after 18 had been injured overnight on Friday. – AFP, May 11, 2021
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