Jerusalem: More than 150 people were injured on Friday in clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police in the Al-Aqsa Jerusalem Mosque compound, the first face-off on the Sacred Flashpoint site since the beginning of Ramadan.

The Israeli police said dozens of masked people marched to Al-Aqsa canceled fireworks before the crowd threw stone to the western wall – considered the most holy site where Jews could pray.

Eyewitnesses said Palestine threw stones at Israeli forces, who fired rubber-plated bullets and stun grenades.

Palestinian red crescent said 153 people were hospitalized and “dozens” others were treated at the scene. Israeli police said at least three officers were injured.

Clashes came after three weeks of deadly violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, and as the Easter Jewish Festival and Christian Easter overlapping with the holy month of Ramadan Muslim.

Al-Aqsa is the third most holy site of Islam. The Jews called it a mountain temple, referring to two temples that were said to have stood there in ancient times.

Last year during the Muslim fasting month, clashes that flared in Jerusalem, were among the Israeli and Palestinian forces who visited Al-Aqsa, causing 11 days of destructive conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic group that controls the Palestinian bag from Gaza.

Easter convergence, Ramadhan and Easter are symbols with what we have together. We should not let anyone change these holy days into platforms for hatred, incitement and violence,” he said.

East East Peace Messenger Tor Wennesland urged “the authorities on both parties to immediately improve the situation and prevent further provocation by radical actors.

We called on all sides to exercise (and) avoided provocative and rhetoric actions,” said the Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Solar in a statement.