Israel waging ‘open war’ on Al-Aqsa: Palestine official

Israel is waging an "open war" on East Jerusalem's iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque, Salim al-Zanoun, head of the Palestinian National Council, said Tuesday.

"The occupation's repeated attacks on Al-Aqsa are in preparation for the spatial and temporal division of the holy mosque complex," al-Zanoun, who is based in Jordanian capital Amman, said in a statement.

Israeli aggression towards the flashpoint mosque complex, he added, "is being carried out in conjunction with an ethnic-cleansing campaign against [Palestinian] residents of Jerusalem, who are being expelled from their homes and replaced with [Jewish] extremists".

Al-Zanoun also urged the international community to pressure Israel to end its decades-long occupation of East Jerusalem, in which the Al-Aqsa is located.

On Sunday evening, Israeli police temporarily shut the Al-Aqsa's Al-Rahma Gate, triggering Palestinian protests the following day.