Three gunmen opened fire on Israeli police in Jerusalem
Friday, killing two before fleeing to an ultra-sensitive holy site where they
too were shot dead in one of the city’s most serious incidents in recent years.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone later as tensions rose over the
attack and its aftermath.
Israeli authorities also detained Jerusalem’s top Muslim
cleric as crowds gathered at the gates of the Old City after the attack, his
son said.
The three attackers, Arab Israelis aged between 19 and 29,
were shot dead by police. A body could be seen on the ground near the Al-Aqsa
mosque in the Old City.
Police recovered two locally-made automatic rifles, a pistol
and a knife, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
A hail of gunfire could be heard on grainy footage posted on
social media.
Police distributed a video they said showed at least two of
the attackers arriving from the direction of the mosque and ambushing police
officers.
Security forces later locked down the area and in a highly
unusual move, the Al-Aqsa mosque was closed to Friday prayers.
Netanyahu signalled later in the day that the site would
remain closed until at least Sunday.
The attackers were from the Arab Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm
near the occupied West Bank.
Police identified them as Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad Jabareen,
29; Muhammad Hamed Abdel Latif Jabareen, 19; and Muhammad Ahmad Mafadal
Jabareen, 29.
Arab Israelis are descendants of Palestinians who remained
on their land following the creation of Israel in 1948. They largely identify
with the Palestinian cause.
The police who were killed were Ha’il Satawi, 30, and Kamil
Shanan, 22, both from the Druze minority.
The assailants were killed at the site known to Muslims as
the Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site
in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam.
It is the scene of regular clashes between Palestinians and
Israeli police, but gunfire there is rare.
The site includes the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the
Rock.
In the phone call with Netanyahu, Abbas expressed his
“strong rejection and condemnation of the incident” and rejected “any act of
violence from any side, especially in places of worship”, official Palestinian
news agency WAFA said.
The statement appeared stronger than previous such responses
from Abbas, who has repeatedly called for non-violent resistance to Israel’s
occupation without specifically condemning Palestinian attacks.
Netanyahu said in a statement the security situation
surrounding the holy site would be reassessed on Sunday.
Gradually reopening the site to worshippers and visitors
“will be based on an estimate that will be made Sunday,” he said.
Mosque closed
With Al-Aqsa closed, crowds gathered at Old City gates and
held prayers there.
The grand mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, the
city’s highest Islamic authority, condemned the closure of the mosque compound
for prayers.
“I have very little information about it, but it doesn’t
mean you should close the mosque for prayers,” he told journalists at the
nearby Lions Gate entrance to the Old City.
According to his son Jihad Hussein, he was later detained by
Israeli police, who declined to comment.
He was released without charge after being questioned over
his call for Muslims to come to Jerusalem after the holy site’s closure,
another of his sons told AFP.
Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip,
called the attack “a natural response to Zionist terrorism and the desecration
of the Al Aqsa mosque”, referring to previous Israeli raids at the site.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the attack
could spark more violence and urged all sides to avoid escalation.
Jordan, the custodian of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, urged
Israel to “immediately reopen” it.
Flashpoint site
The Haram al-Sharif / Temple Mount is central to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and Palestinians fear Israel may one day seek to assert further
control over it.
It lies in east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in the 1967
Six-Day War and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international
community.
Jews are allowed to visit, but are banned from praying there
to avoid provoking tensions.
The site is administered by the Islamic Waqf organisation.
Waqf officials said Israeli police detained its guards there after the attack.
A wave of unrest that broke out in October 2015 has claimed
the lives of at least 281 Palestinians or Arab Israelis, 44 Israelis, two
Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to
an AFP toll.
Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed were
carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.
Others were shot dead in protests and clashes, while some
were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
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