PALESTINIANS warned of repercussions with a “dangerous” escalation of hostilities after Israeli occupying forces raided and assaulted worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

The compound was reopened yesterday morning after access to the mosque was blocked in what the Palestinian Authority branded a deliberate provocation.

President Mahmoud Abbas spoke to a number of international leaders calling on them to “urgently interfere” against Israel’s actions and call on Tel Aviv to stop its aggression against Palestinians.

Hamas also called on Arab and Muslim nations “to act immediately in order to stop the Israeli violations and attacks on Jerusalem, its residents and holy sites.

“The Palestinian people are determined to undermine the Israeli measures aimed to impose a new reality in Al-Aqsa Mosque and to deny them their right to access the sacred compound,” the group said in a statement.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that it had treated six Palestinians who were beaten by Israeli forces at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jordanian Minister of Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites Abdul Nasser Abu Basal described Israel’s actions as “a flagrant assault on all religious values, rights and freedom,” and “an attack on all Muslims that touches the entire Islamic nation.”