Jewish visitors gesture as Israeli security forces secure the area at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Photo: May 5, 2022. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

i24 News – An Arab Israeli man was shot dead by Israeli security forces at a checkpoint in Jerusalem early on Friday, after snatching an Israeli guard’s gun and managing to fire out two shots.

No Israeli police were hurt in the incident, which unfolded outside the flashpoint Temple Mount site.

Some local media reported that the man, identified as a 26-year-old Muhammad El-Asibi, a medical student from southern Israel, intended to perpetrate a terrorist attack. Others said his outburst came in response to a rough treatment of a veiled Palestinian woman by Israeli guards, and it cannot be determined whether he intended to carry out an armed assault. Israeli police say there wasn’t a woman involved.

Contesting the official version of events, El-Asibi’s family said that he “was no terrorist” and the incident should be thoroughly investigated. They demanded that Israel provide security camera footage of the incident.

Following the incident, Israeli forces closed the entrance gates to the Temple Mount. This comes amid the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, typically a time of violent riots instigated by Palestinian worshippers.

More than 200,000 Palestinians had gathered earlier for Friday’s noon prayers at the compound and the ceremony had ended without the usual frictions with Israeli police.