Clashes grip Temple Mount as rioters hurl petrol bombs, stones and fireworks at police

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Police on Sunday afternoon released footage of security forces earlier in the day attempting to disperse dozens of violent Palestinian rioters on the Temple Mount complex.In the video, security forces are seen approaching the stone-hurling rioters and later barricading them in al-Aksa Mosque in order to secure the area.On Sunday morning, the masked Palestinian youths took up arms and set up barricades on the Temple Mount to attack police and Jewish visitors during Tisha Be’Av, Judaism’s annual day of mourning.The rioting took place as tens of thousands of Jews fasted and made a pilgrimage to the Western Wall amid oppressive heat to mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples that once sat atop the contested holy site.According to Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, officers entered the compound shortly after 7:30 a.m., after receiving intelligence that a large group of masked Palestinian youths barricaded themselves overnight in al-Aksa Mosque to attack Jewish visitors on Sunday morning.“The police were attacked immediately upon entering the Temple Mount compound by Palestinians armed with rocks, firebombs, fireworks and metal pipes,” said Rosenfeld, adding that four officers were lightly wounded during the confrontation.Later Sunday, Hamas condemned Israeli security forces for entering the Temple Mount compound to neutralize the dozens of masked Palestinian youthsHamas published a statement from the group's spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, calling the Israeli response to Palestinian rioting "a dangerous escalation."Despite the assailants' decision to stage the riots on the Temple Mount complex, the Hamas spokesman stated that the Palestinian people and leadership would "not stand idly by while the Israeli assaults on sanctities continue."