Footage has emerged of gunmen shooting dead two Israeli police officers outside one of Jerusalem’s holiest and most sensitive sites in the early hours of Friday morning.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
In the early hours of Friday morning, three Arab Israeli citizens armed with home-made machine guns and a pistol opened fire outside the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Footage shows moment when Palestinian Gunmen carried attack on two Israeli Policemen in today’s #JerusalemAttack.pic.twitter.com/MKumdQ9HKB
— Battle Analytics (@BattleAnalytics) July 14, 2017
Not long after the incident, the chief of the Israeli police confirmed the death of two male officers from wounds sustained in the attack.
Israeli police shut down all access to the site, which houses the al-Aqsa mosque, effectively cancelling Friday prayers for the thousands of Muslims who flock there every week.
People wait to begin Friday prayers on Salah ad-Deen street as they are blocked from al-Aqsa after #JerusalemAttack pic.twitter.com/wVnNLXUjpg
— Jacob Burns (@JacobTBurns) July 14, 2017
The Palestinian Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Hussein, called on worshipers to defy the closure.
The incident was one of the most serious attacks seen in the Israeli capital in recent years, and Isreali -Palestinian tensions threatened to flare up in the immediate aftermath.