Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Friday to voice their rejection of the recent U.S. decision to recognize the city as Israel's capital.
Waving Palestinian flags and raising images of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, protesters marched through the mosque's courtyards shouting slogans in support of Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause.
"Jerusalem is Arab," they chanted. "With our souls and blood, we are ready to sacrifice for blessed Al-Aqsa."
Dozens of Turkish nationals, some of them waving Turkish flags, also took part in the protest.Meanwhile, two Palestinians were killed as youths clashed with Israeli soldiers on the Gaza border on Friday during a protest, the Health Ministry said.
"Zakaria al-Kafarneh, 24, died after being shot in the chest east of Jabalia [in northern Gaza]," a Health Ministry spokesman said in a statement. "A second man, whose identity is still unknown, died in clashes east of Gaza City," the coastal enclave's Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, noting the man was shot in the chest.During the protests on Friday, Israeli police also assaulted a group of Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem, including an Anadolu Agency (AA) journalist, during a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
According to AA, Israeli police beat a number of Palestinian protesters in and around Jerusalem's Old City.
Dozens of demonstrators sustained light injuries, including AA photo-journalists Mahmud Ibrahim and Mustafa Kharuf.
Israeli police also detained three Palestinians, including a journalist.
Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem's Jordan-run Islamic Endowments Authority, told Anadolu Agency that some 45,000 worshippers had performed weekly prayers at the mosque on Friday.
In his Friday sermon, Al-Aqsa imam Sheikh Mohamed Salim slammed U.S. President Donald Trump's decision on Dec. 6 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Emphasizing the holy city's Arab and Muslim character, Salim expressed thanks to those countries that supported a U.N. General Assembly resolution calling on the U.S. to reverse its decision on Jerusalem.
