On the first day of Eid Al-Adha (2019) celebration “A number of Palestinians were injured during clashes with Israeli forces inside the Masjid Al-Aqsa compound,” said Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Religious Endowments Authority.

“The Palestinians were injured while they were preventing Jewish settlers from storming the holy mosque,” he added.

Palestinian Red Crescent, meanwhile, said that 37 Palestinian were injured after Israeli forces attacked the worshippers with rubber bullets, teargas and truncheons.

“The worshippers were moderately injured and 14 of them were transferred to hospitals for further treatment,” it added.

Earlier on Sunday, Israeli police prevented settlers from storming the Masjid Al-Aqsa, Israeli media reported.

The police cited the presence of tens of thousands of Palestinian worshippers and the high possibility of clashes.

The Islamic Waqfs in Jerusalem decided to delay Eid prayers to 7.30 am instead of 6.30 am, to address settlers’ call to storm the Al-Aqsa in the so-called “memory of the destruction of the Temple.”

Extremist Jewish organisations, known widely as Temple Mount groups, had called for massive raids on the Al-Aqsa during this week.

Israel occupied East Al-Quds during the 1967 Middle East war.

In a move never recognised by the international community, Israel annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the self-proclaimed Jewish state’s “eternal and undivided” capital.

Sacred to Muslims, Christians and Jews, Al-Quds is home to the Masjid Al-Aqsa, which for Muslims represents the world’s third holiest site. Jews refer to the area as the “Temple Mount,” claiming it was the site of two prominent Jewish temples in ancient times. It also includes Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the most sacred Christian sites in the world.