NABLUS, July 28, 2017 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Friday opened fire at Palestinians who rallied in solidarity with Al-Aqsa Mosque near Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus, injuring a photojournalist.

Ayman al-Nobani, a photojournalist with the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency (WAFA), was shot and injured with a bullet as he was covering the rally.

Israeli forces also fired tear gas canisters at protestors, causing many to suffer from suffocation.

This came as heavy Israeli police reinforcements were deployed at the compound and inside the Old City of Jerusalem in anticipated of heavy clashes following Friday prayers.

Fresh clashes erupted after Israeli police Thursday evening and night detained some 120 Palestinians and injured scores of others as worshippers gathered at the holy esplanade for the first time in two weeks since Israel lifted recent tightened measures imposed at the site.

An estimated 120,000 Palestinians had gathered to perform prayers inside the holy site Thursday evening after all gates of the holy site were reopened though the Remission Gate (Bab al-Hutta) was closed again shortly afterwards.

This came shortly after Palestinians took to the streets of Jerusalem to celebrate the re-opening of the mosque compound.

Israel has set up the metal detectors and cameras at the entrances to the site and took other tightened measures following a fatal attack that left the assailants, three Palestinian citizens of Israel, and two Israeli police officers killed on July 14.

Palestinians and Muslim clerics have widely perceived the installations as an Israeli attempt to use Israeli-Palestinian violence to extend control over East Jerusalem and the Noble Sanctuary, further restricting Palestinian and Muslim access.

K.F.