The Al-Aqsa Mosque. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

JNS.org – Jerusalem Police units stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound early Monday and prevented dozens of masked assailants from carrying out a planned attack, Israel Hayom reported. The assailants had gathered on the Temple Mount with rocks and fireworks.

Overnight, the assailants gathered weapons and prepared Molotov cocktails inside the mosque. They barricaded the mosque by nailing shoe racks to the doors and creating obstacles with metal rods, wooden beams, and barbed wire. They also built structures out of wood and wire mesh to be used as shields for rock throwers and fireworks shooters.

But the police, operating on gathered intelligence, surprised the attackers and foiled their scheme. Arriving early, they removed the obstacles and locked the assailants inside the mosque.

“The Jerusalem Police will continue to take decisive and firm action against law breakers and bring them to justice,” a police statement said Monday.