JERUSALEM, For the fifth consecutive night, Israeli police Wednesday night cracked down on Palestinians who gathered at Bab al-Amoud in the occupied city of East Jerusalem, according to WAFA correspondent.

She said that a special unit of the Israeli army detained two young men after assaulting them, while the police rounded up three others from Bab al-Amoud, also known as Damascus Gate, one of the main gates of the Old City of Jerusalem.

She pointed that since the beginning of the month of Ramadan last Saturday, Israeli police have arrested 38 Jerusalemites, some of whom are still in detention, while others have been released on the conditions of being denied entry into Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City of Jerusalem and imposed fines on them.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli settlers, led by extremist Rabbi Yehuda Glick, stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on the morning of the fifth day of Ramadan, under the protection of the occupation police.

The current tensions are reminiscent of the 2021 May and Ramadan tensions over Israeli settler takeover of Palestinian property in Shekh Jarrah and encroachments upon the mosque compound.

During the 2021 Ramadan month, Jerusalem saw protests and night-time confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers, with tensions mounting over the police decision to ban people from sitting on the stairs outside Bab al-Amoud under the guise of implementing the coronavirus restrictions, and its decision to disconnect the power supply to the call to prayer at the mosque compound.

The tensions further simmered following the forced expulsions of Palestinian families from their houses in Sheikh Jarrah.

For many Palestinians in Jerusalem and across the occupied Palestinian territory, Ramadan is directly connected to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque and is considered the third holiest site in Islam.

Al-Aqsa is located in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian territories that have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.

Source: Palestine News and Info Agency