More than twenty people were injured this Sunday during clashes between Palestinians and Israelis on and around the esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem, the scene of violent clashes on Friday. The esplanade of the Mosques – also called Temple Mount by the Jews – is located in the Old City in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector occupied since 1967 by Israel. stones” on the esplanade shortly before religious Jews arrived at the spot, considered Judaism’s holiest and Islam’s third holiest site, Israeli police said. Israeli law enforcement entered on the esplanade of the Mosques in order to “dislodge” these demonstrators and “restore order”, specified the Israeli police. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 19 Palestinian injuries, some of whom were hit by rubber bullets. Since the capture in 1967 and then the annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel – not recognized by the international are authorized to access the esplanade at certain times, but not to pray there. Prayer normally takes place at the Wailing Wall below, although for years religious Jews have been secretly praying on the esplanade. The incidents come as Sunday is held in the Old City of Jerusalem, a crossroads of the three monotheistic religions , Christian festivities for Easter, prayers for Passover, Passover, and for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Israelis, including minors, according to the Israeli police. Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem reported seven minor injuries from the stone-throwing, while Israeli police reported 18 arrests.”Al-Aqsa (name given in Arabic to the Mosque compound, editor’s note) is ours, and the Jews have absolutely no right to it,” said Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political wing of Hamas, the Palestinian armed Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, a territory under Israeli blockade, in a statement. For his part, Hussein el-Sheikh, a tenor of the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, called on the international community to put an end to “the blatant aggression” against the esplanade of the Mosques. In Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, mosques were calling on worshipers to come to the esplanade, according to AFP journalists. And in the Gaza Strip, more than a dozen rockets were fired into the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday morning, according to media close to Hamas. In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett reaffirmed that “the security forces had carte blanche to (…) ensure the security of Israeli citizens”. “We are trying to calm the situation on the ground while taking determined action against the causes of the violence,” added Naftali Bennett. in the Tel Aviv area and Israel’s “counterterrorism” operations in the occupied West Bank, clashes broke out between Israeli police and protesters at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque are located. The Israeli forces notably entered the Al-Aqsa mosque during these clashes where more than 150 Palestinians were injured, an intervention which aroused strong condemnation from Muslim countries. Jordan, which administers the esplanade of the Mosques, blamed Israel for this new escalation of violence. King Abdullah II of Jordan, who is in Germany where he underwent surgery for a herniated disc, called on the Jewish state to “end the illegal and provocative measures that lead to a greater escalation” of violence, according to a press release from the royal palace on Sunday. At the Vatican, during the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing for Easter , Pope Francis pleaded on Sunday for “free” access to holy places in Jerusalem. “May Israelis, Palestinians and all the inhabitants of the Holy City, together with the pilgrims, experience the beauty of peace”, said the sovereign pontiff. The UN had called for a “de-escalation” in order to avoid that tensions in Jerusalem do not turn, like last year, into a war between Hamas and Israel.