The Israel Police reopened Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Friday afternoon after it was closed in response to clashes that erupted earlier in the day between security forces and Muslim worshippers.
Officers entered the third holiest shrine in Islam and carried out arrests in what police described as a pursuit of youths who had thrown rocks and fireworks during the clashes.
The rare raid on the highly volatile site came as medics in the Gaza Strip said IDF fire had killed two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, during a weekly border prowwww.
A police spokesman said troops were sent into the mosque in pursuit of suspects who had barricaded themselves inside after clashes in the surrounding compound, during which masked men threw rocks and firecrackers at Israeli security forces trying to maintain public order.
There were no reports of any violence in the mosque, whose older male worshippers said they had been allowed to exit after being searched.
Witnesses later saw around 20 younger men detained by police and said mosque prayers resumed.
Police put the number of arrests at 24 and said four of its officers were injured in the melee. Muslim authorities said dozens of people were hurt by Israeli police stun grenades.
Grand Mufti Muhammad Hussein, the highest Muslim authority in Jerusalem, called Israel's actions in and around Al-Aqsa "a dangerous provocation."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the incident, saying, "The continued Israeli attacks against occupied Jerusalem will increase tensions and will drag the region into a religious war that we have long warned against."
In Gaza, medics said a 34-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were killed and dozens wounded by IDF fire, bringing to 154 the number of Palestinian deaths since Hamas, the terrorist group that rules the coastal enclave, launched its border riots campaign on March 30.
The IDF said troops opened fire to ward off thousands of Palestinians, some of whom threw rocks and rolled burning tires at the security fence in attempts to sabotage it.
The four months of Gaza tensions have also seen cross-border shelling and gunfire exchange. Over the last week, an Israeli soldier was killed and another wounded by Gaza snipers, and seven Hamas gunmen were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
