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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - More than a dozen Palestinian worshipers were detained as clashes broke in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday morning between worshipers and Israeli forces who stormed the courtyards firing stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets.

The raid comes amid frequent clashes in recent days after right-wing Jewish groups urged Jews to flock to the compound which they believe is the site of a former Jewish temple and conduct Passover rituals inside.

Director of Al-Aqsa Mosque Omar Kiswani told Ma'an that more than 400 police officers stormed the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Moroccan Gate and the Chain Gate escorting Ultra-Orthodox Jews other Jewish visitors into the compound.

Israeli forces, Kiswani said, "besieged" worshipers in the southern mosque "attacking them with clubs and pepper spray," after clashes broke out with Palestinian worshipers in the compound.

Kiswani said that Likud member of Knesset Moshe Feiglin had also entered the compound during the raid, accompanied by special security units. Feiglin has visited the site frequently in recent months, and he has vocally supported the extension of Israeli sovereignty over the compound.

Earlier on Sunday morning, clashes erupted outside the Lions' Gate (Bab al-Asbat) and Gate of Remission (Bab al-Hutta) of the Al-Aqsa compound when Israeli police denied hundreds of worshippers access to the compound.

Witnesses said that Israeli officers denied all Palestinian residents of Jerusalem access to the compound including students who attend schools inside. Men and women were also attacked with clubs and pepper spray, witnesses said.

Israeli forces detained a young man after he was beaten brutally.

Israeli police spokesman said in a statement that police had detained 16 Palestinian "rioters," adding that they were all detained "as they threw stones/blocks at officers at the scene this morning."

He also said that two police officers lightly injured in the clashes, which broke out after the Palestinians threw stones as "tourists visited."

*Ma'an