JERUSALEM: Scuffles broke out at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday after guards at the mosque refused to allow an Israeli policeman to enter for a routine security check because he was wearing a Jewish skullcap known as a kippah.
Firas Dibs, a spokesman for the Islamic authority that oversees the site, says dozens of worshippers scuffled with police after the guards closed the doors to the mosque and barricaded themselves inside. He says the director of the mosque was lightly wounded.
Israeli police could not immediately be reached for comment.
The gold-domed mosque is part of the Al-Aqsa mosque complex, which Muslims consider their third holiest site after Makkah and Medina. It is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the biblical temples.
The holy site is at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and past clashes there have sparked widespread violence.
Dibs said the police carry out routine security checks every morning, and that the policeman was only prevented from entering because he was wearing a kippah. The Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site so it can rebuild the temple, allegations denied by the Israeli government, which says it has no plans to change the status quo.
Earlier on Monday, the Gaza Health Ministry said a 14-year-old Palestinian who was shot by Israeli forces during mass protests along the perimeter fence over the weekend died of his wounds.
The ministry said Abdelraouf Salhah was shot in the head during the protest on Friday. A 43-year-old female activist was also killed, and two dozen Palestinians were wounded.
Hamas has been orchestrating weekly mass protests along the perimeter fence since last March to protest an Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed on Gaza when the militant group seized power in 2007. At least 187 Palestinians have been killed since the protests began, including 35 who were 18 or younger, and thousands of Palestinians have been wounded. An Israeli soldier was also killed.
Israel says it’s protecting its border from infiltrators who could carry out attacks.
Palestinians, Israeli police scuffle at Jerusalem holy site
Palestinians, Israeli police scuffle at Jerusalem holy site
- Dozens of worshippers scuffled with police after the guards closed the doors to the mosque and barricaded themselves inside
- The gold-domed mosque is part of the Al-Aqsa mosque complex
Iran war chokes aid corridors, obstructing global relief efforts
- “People in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food,” said Bauer
- Tents, tarpaulins and lamps destined for Gaza and the West Bank have become stuck in the supply chain, the IOM said
GENEVA: Key humanitarian air, sea and land routes are being constricted by disruption from the war in the Middle East, delaying life-saving shipments to some of the world’s worst crises, 10 aid officials have told Reuters.
The US–Israeli war on Iran entered its seventh day on Friday, convulsing global markets and disrupting supply chains with airspace closures and the halt of shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Aid to Gaza and Sudan is grinding to a halt and costs are soaring for help to the hundreds of millions suffering hunger crises around the world.
“People in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security at the World Food Programme.
Already, tents, tarpaulins and lamps destined for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank have become stuck in the supply chain, the International Organization for Migration said.
DUBAI AID HUB HOBBLED BY AIR AND SEA RESTRICTIONS
Aid groups say higher operational costs are straining budgets already facing massive donor cuts. The IOM said shipping firms were demanding emergency surcharges of approximately $3,000 per container.
Humanitarian groups stocking goods for rapid regional deployment at warehouses in Dubai’s Humanitarian Hub face challenges moving supplies onto transit routes.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies cannot move trauma kits to help the Iranian Red Crescent with search and rescue from its Dubai hub, where they sit in a estimated 1 million Swiss franc ($1.28 million) pre-positioned emergency stockpile, said Cecile Terraz, a director at the IFRC.
The group cannot move stock through Jebel Ali port — the region’s largest container terminal, which was set on fire by the debris of an intercepted missile — from where cargo normally moves onto planes or into the Strait of Hormuz.
The World Health Organization’s Dubai hub operations are also frozen, regional director Hanan Balkhy said, obstructing 50 emergency requests from 25 countries and hampering operations such as polio vaccination.
Ripple effects farther afield are also likely.
Famine-struck Sudan is particularly exposed due to additional restrictions since February 28 on the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, the UNHCR said.
“We are particularly concerned about Africa,” said a spokeswoman, adding that some cargoes were being sent around the Cape of Good Hope. The route takes up to three weeks longer.
Costs for fuel, transportation and insurance are also rising, and Terraz said the IFRC may have to cut deliveries to the Iranian Red Crescent.
Emma Maspero, senior manager in Copenhagen of the supply division of the UN children’s body UNICEF, said she hoped flights carrying perishable humanitarian goods such as vaccines could be prioritized amid the airspace restrictions.
