appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Reuters

Three Arab-Israeli gunmen shot dead two Israeli policemen near one of Jerusalem’s most holy places on Friday and were then killed by security forces, authorities said.
It was one of the most serious attacks in years so close to the volatile holy site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount.
Israeli authorities shut the area to Muslims gathering for Friday prayers, prompting anger among Palestinian religious leaders. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Hussein, urged Palestinians to defy the closure and was later reported to have been detained.
Israeli blacklist points to growing rift among rabbis

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but also said closing down the area could have repercussions.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, though the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, praised it.


The three gunmen arrived at the sacred site, which stands on a marble and stone plateau on the edge of Jerusalem’s Old City, and walked towards one of the nearby ancient stone gates, police spokeswoman Luba Simri said.
“When they saw the policemen they shot towards them and then escaped towards one of the mosques in the Temple Mount compound,” Simri said. “A chase ensued and the three terrorists were killed by police.”

She said three firearms were found on their bodies. The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, said the gunmen were all Arab citizens of Israel who were unknown to the authorities.
Mobile phone video footage aired by Israeli media showed several police chasing a man and shooting him at the site, a popular place for foreign tourists to visit.
The two policemen killed were Israeli Arab citizens from the country’s Druze community. The Israeli ambulance service said a third policeman had been lightly wounded in the incident.
Tensions are often high around the compound, which houses the al-Aqsa Mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. It is managed by Jordanian religious authorities and is adjacent to the Western Wall, a holy site where Jews are permitted to pray.

Police said on Friday that prayers for Muslims would not be held at the site following the attack for security reasons, while forces scanned the area for weapons and investigated the incident.
Netanyahu said the compound would be reopened gradually from Sunday, in accordance with security assessments.
The compound has served as a tinderbox for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the past. Under a delicate status quo agreement, Jews are allowed to enter the compound under closer supervision but only Muslims are permitted to pray.
In an apparent effort to ease tensions, Netanyahu said there would be no change to the status quo, in which only Muslim prayer is permitted, a message he reiterated in his phone call with Abbas, according to Netanyahu’s office.
Authorities have often restricted access to the al-Aqsa mosque when concerned about possible violence, but a total shutdown is rare.

Friday’s closure prompted hundreds of Muslim worshippers to gather outside the walled Old City gates and hold prayers there.
“We completely reject the ban by Israeli authorities,” Grand Mufti Hussein said. “We have urged our Palestinian people to rush to al-Aqsa today and every day to hold their prayers.”
Ofer Zalzberg, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank, said images of the gunman being shot dead at the sacred site made the situation even more volatile.
“This can have much broader impact because defending al-Aqsa is at the core of Palestinian nationalism,” Zalzberg told Reuters. “Israel’s response of closing access entirely to Muslims in an attempt to deter further attacks actually exacerbates the crisis.”
An aide to Hussein said the Mufti was later detained by police at the Old City. A police spokesman could not confirm that report. Reuters video footage showed the Mufti being escorted away by a man in plain clothes, through a crowd of Palestinians gathered near the compound gate.

A wave of Palestinian street attacks that began in 2015 has slowed but not stopped. At least 257 Palestinians and one Jordanian citizen have been killed since the violence began. A few of the attacks were carried out by Arab Israeli citizens.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem, where the Old City and the holy compound are located, after the 1967 Middle East war and regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim not recognised internationally.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.


Two Israeli policemen shot dead near Jerusalem holy site, gunmen killed

An Israeli policeman walks past a body after an attack at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Photo: AFP

An Israeli police officer stands guard as a Muslim man walks out of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, July 14, 2017. Three Palestinian assailants opened fire on Israeli police from inside a major Jerusalem holy site Friday, killing two officers before being shot dead, police said. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian Muslim worshipers prevented from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque pray outside Jerusalem's Old City, Friday, July 14, 2017. Israel's police chief says two officers were killed in an attack by Palestinian assailants near a major Jerusalem shrine. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

(170714) -- JERUSALEM, July 14, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Israeli medical personnel and security forces members transfer the dead bodies of attackers near the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, on July 14, 2017. Two Israeli police officers succumbed to their wounds in hospital, the police chief said, after three Arab citizens of Israel shot them in an attack in a holy site in East Jerusalem on Friday. The assailants, residents of the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm in central Israel, were killed by a police force. (Xinhua/JINI)(whw)

(FILES) This file photo taken on November 6, 2015 shows Jerusalem’s Mufti Mohammed Hussein posing in front of the Dome of the Rock mosque at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in Jerusalem's Old City. Israeli forces detain Jerusalem's top Muslim cleric after attack on July 14, 2017: son / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD GHARABLI

Palestinian Muslim worshipers prevented from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayer at Jaffa Gate outside Jerusalem's Old City, Friday, July 14, 2017. Israel's police chief says two officers were killed in an attack by Palestinian assailants near a major Jerusalem shrine. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

News

World

Middle East

Authorities shut the area to Muslims gathering for Friday prayers, prompting anger among Palestinian religious leaders


Two Israeli policemen shot dead near Jerusalem holy site, gunmen killed

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Authorities shut the area to Muslims gathering for Friday prayers, prompting anger among Palestinian religious leaders

Authorities shut the area to Muslims gathering for Friday prayers, prompting anger among Palestinian religious leaders