Hundreds of Palestinians wounded as religious tension boils over in Jerusalem

Confrontations between Israeli security forces and protesters have been escalating for weeks. The clashes started at the beginning of Ramadan, almost a month ago, when Israeli police put up barriers to stop people sitting in the Damascus Gate plaza, a popular gathering area during Ramadan. Young Palestinians protested what they saw as Israeli authorities disrupting their religious and social traditions.

Then on April 16, the first Friday of Ramadan, tensions escalated further when Israel imposed a 10,000-person limit on prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were turned away. Meanwhile, there had been demonstrations over another simmering dispute: An Israeli plan to evict several Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, to allow Jewish settlers to move in.