JERUSALEM, Monday, January 14, 2019 (WAFA) – Israeli police ended on Monday few hours of siege imposed on the Dome of the Rock, which along with Al-Aqsa Mosque, form Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the noble sanctuary), Islam‘s third holiest site, in Jerusalem‘s Old City, according to Muslim religious officials.

However, police detained several employees of the Muslim Waqf, which is in charge of the mosques in Jerusalem, as they were leaving the walled compound.

Police sealed off the gates to the Dome of the Rock after Waqf employees refused to allow an Israeli policeman who was wearing the Jewish kippah on his head to enter it.

The employees first closed the gates to the mosque with the golden dome and sealed themselves inside it as police waited out for them to come out to arrest them.

Palestinian worshippers gathered outside the mosque in large numbers demanding that the police leave the area so that they can freely worship in their holy mosque.

After several hours or stand of, the police left the compound and the gates were reopened for worshippers.

As some Waqf employees were leaving the compound, police, who are usually stationed at the gates to the compound, stopped some and detained them for not allowing the policeman to enter the Dome of the Rock.

The Israeli action was widely criticized by the Palestinian government that demanded condemnation of Israel for interfering in freedom of worship at a Muslim holy site.

M.K.