An aerial view of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – The Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City was reopened Sunday morning to all visitors, including Jewish worshippers, after nearly three weeks of closure.

The religious site had been closed to non-Muslim visitors since May 4, which coincided with the holy month of Ramadan.

On May 10, when Jerusalem Day was celebrated in Israel, violent clashes erupted at the Temple Mount, which was partly the catalyst leading to riots in mixed towns across the country, home to Israeli Jews and Arabs.

On the same day, the Islamist group Hamas in power in Gaza threatened to fire rockets at Israel if the Israeli police did not withdraw from the site and the neighboring East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Eleven days of fighting between Gaza-based Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the Israel Defense Forces followed before a ceasefire was announced on Friday morning.

“At seven o’clock tomorrow, Jews must be allowed access to the Temple Mount — the closure of the site means that Israel has surrendered to Hamas,” member of Knesset from the Religious Zionist party Itamar Ben Gvir said on Saturday evening.

Since Friday, the Israeli police have arrested more than 30 suspects for disturbing public order but also assaults on police officers on the Temple Mount and in east Jerusalem.