Iran Ayatollah Calls Israel ‘Evil’ For Al-Aqsa Aggression In Jerusalem

An Israeli army spokeswoman would not comment on the number of injuries, but said clashes were continuing in the West Bank.

The incident came hours after Israeli forces said they found the body of a Palestinian militantin the aftermath of an explosion not far from Hebron.

Separately on Tuesday morning, Israeli troops shot and wounded a Palestinian woman at a checkpoint near the centre of Hebron, witnesses said. The Israeli military said she had attempted to stab a soldier.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied the rumors, but the violence has continued, promoted by a group called the Murabitoun, affiliated with the hardline northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel.

Hebron resident Issa Amro identified the woman as 19-year-old Hadeel Salah al-Hashlamon. A few in the West, particularly in Europe, still insist that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the principal problem in the region, but that is plainly false.

Police said security will be beefed up during the 25-hour fast, which comes two days ahead of the Muslim Eid Al Adha holiday. Interim peace deals were signed two decades ago, but follow-up negotiations on a state Palestinians seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as their capital have gone nowhere.

Israeli authorities said they would decide on Tuesday whether to impose age restrictions on Muslims entering the compound.

On Sunday, calm had returned to the Al Aqsa compound, with 350 tourists and 150 Jews visiting the site. This month, Israel outlawed an informal Muslim activist group that gathers around Jewish visitors to the site and chants religious slogans in protest.

Under the new proposals, police would be allowed to use live ammunition when civilian lives are in danger as well as against people who throw rocks and fire-bombs.

Hundreds of policemen were deployed near the Palestinian neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem after a week of repeated clashes between Palestinians and the police, Jerusalem District Police Commander, Brigadier General Avshalom Peled said.

According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the Netanyahu government on Thursday made a decision to cancel $76 million out of $92 million owed by Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Golan Heights.

He also stressed Israel’s commitment to maintaining the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which in recent days has seen several incursions by Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers that have led to fierce clashes with Palestinian Muslim worshippers. Jordan, in accordance with its peace treaty with Israel, regards itself as custodian of the mosques there, while Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas views himself as the Palestinians’ representative based on his status as PLO leader.

Israel seized East Jerusalem, the area where Al-Aqsa is located, in the Six Day War of 1967, and later annexed the territory, a move that has not been recognised internationally.