Israeli police say they entered a holy Jerusalem site to prevent Arab youths from attacking visiting Jews marking a biblical holiday.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says police received prior warnings that masked Arab youths were barricading themselves inside the al-Aqsa Mosque armed with rocks and fire bombs. Rosenfeld says the youths planned to attack Jews visiting the area Sunday for Tisha B'Av the Jewish holiday marking the destruction of ancient Hebrew temples.
Rosenfeld says some officers were wounded as they pushed the youths back.
Jews refer to the hilltop site their holiest as the Temple Mount. Muslims refer to it as the Noble Sanctuary. It is their third-holiest site, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. The site is a flashpoint of tension between the faiths.