Clashes inside Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque

JERUSALEM - Clashes erupted inside the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem early Wednesday as Israeli police said they had entered to dislodge "agitators", in a move denounced as an "unprecedented crime" by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called on Palestinians in the West Bank "to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa mosque to defend it".

Israeli police said they had entered the mosque to dislodge "agitators" who had fireworks, sticks and stones.

The mosque compound in the Israeli-annexed Old City of east Jerusalem has previously seen clashes and violence between Palestinians and Israelis, particularly during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which draws tens of thousands of worshippers to Al-Aqsa.

The holy Muslim site is built on top of what Jews call the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

The fresh violence comes nearly halfway through Ramadan and as Jews prepare to celebrate Passover from Wednesday evening.

Israeli police have released video footage showing what appear to be fireworks explosions inside the mosque and figures throwing rocks.

Another police video shows riot police with shields advancing through the mosque under a barrage of fireworks explosions.

The footage then shows a barricaded door and boxes of fireworks on a carpet on the floor.

Footage then shows a barricaded door of fireworks batteries on a carpet on the floor and police escorting at least five people outside with their hands cuffed behind their backs.

After the announcement of the clashes at Al-Aqsa, several rockets were fired from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory, according to AFP journalists and witnesses.

AFP journalists said they saw three rockets fired from afar and witnesses said they saw others, while the Israeli army reported rocket warning sirens had been triggered in several Israeli urban centres around the Gaza Strip- AFP