A man detained near al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem was shot dead after he grabbed an officer’s gun and fired it, police said.
They identified the man as a 26-year-old resident of Hura, an Arab village in southern Israel.
Authorities said the incident in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday happened when officers stopped the man for questioning outside the mosque compound – the third-holiest site in Islam and frequently a flashpoint.
Footage shared on social media showed police deploying heavily in the alleys and gates leading to the compound after the shooting. Scuffles broke out between police and Palestinian vendors and worshippers who spend the night praying at the mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.
More than 200,000 Palestinians had gathered earlier for Friday’s noon prayers at the compound and the ceremony had ended without the usual frictions with Israeli police.
The hilltop compound is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and incidents in previous years have spilled into clashes in the West Bank and fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers.
Since last spring, violence between Israel and the Palestinians has been high. Eighty-six Palestinians have been killed by Israeli or settler gunfire this year, according to the Associated Press. Israel says most of those killed have been militants. Palestinian attacks have killed 15 Israelis in the same period.
With Reuters and Associated Press
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