JERUSALEM (AA): Israeli forces have closed several entrances to EastJerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex amid ongoing clashes withPalestinian worshippers, a Palestinian official said Tuesday.

“Dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound and assaultedreligious figures,” Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s ReligiousEndowments Authority, a Jordan-run agency tasked with overseeing the city’sMuslim and Christian sites, said in a statement.

According to al-Dibs, Al-Aqsa Mosque Director Omar Kiswani and Sheikh Wasefal-Bakri, the acting supreme judge of Jerusalem’s Islamic Courts, wereamong those assaulted by Israeli security forces.

Baton-wielding police, al-Dibs said, had attacked dozens of Muslimworshippers earlier Tuesday near the Al-Aqsa compound’s iconic Dome of theRock Mosque.

“At least five Palestinians were arrested before being taken into custodyfor further investigation,” he added.

In a subsequent statement, al-Dibs said that Israeli forces had expelledall Muslim worshippers from inside the mosque complex, during which atleast 10 of the latter were assaulted.

He went on to assert that a fire that erupted inside the mosque complex —used to justify the expulsion of worshippers — had been started by police.

“Everything that happened was orchestrated by the police,” he said.

The Israeli authorities, for their part, have yet to comment on thereported disturbances.

The Palestinian Presidency, meanwhile, has condemned the reportedescalations.

According to a statement published by Palestine’s WAFA news agency,President Mahmoud Abbas is maintaining “intensive contacts” with allrelevant parties in hopes of defusing the situation.

He has also called on the international community to intervene, accusingIsraeli police and settlers of “consistently violating the sanctity of themosque and provoking the sentiments of Muslims”.

Tension has mounted in Jerusalem since last month, when Israeli policebriefly sealed the Al-Aqsa compound’s Al-Rahma Gate, located adjacent tothe eastern wall of the Old City, sparking angry Palestinian demonstrations.

In the weeks since, the Israeli authorities have banned scores ofPalestinians — including religious officials — from entering the Al-Aqsa,which for Muslims represents the world’s third holiest site.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, in which the Al-Aqsa is located, during the1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move neverrecognized by the international community.