Emergency UN Security Council session to take place Thursday after Israel raids Al-Aqsa

An emergency UN Security Council session will take place on Thursday following Israeli raids on occupied East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The site, the third-holiest place in Islam, was stormed by Israeli forces twice on Wednesday as Muslims observed the fasting month of Ramadan.

After the first attack, Palestinian militants launched nine rockets from the Gaza Strip, with Israel then bombing and shelling the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The UN meeting comes at the behest of the UAE and China, two diplomats were cited as saying by The Times of Israel. It was not clear whether this was arranged before the first or second attack on Wednesday.

The closed session is the fourth of its kind since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late December and put in place a far-right coalition government.

Emergency sessions followed Israeli far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's storming of the Al-Aqsa compound in January, and lethal Israeli army raids on the occupied West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus.

The first attack by Israeli forces on Al-Aqsa on Wednesday saw hundreds of Palestinians detained and injured.

A second raid took place at the site on Wednesday evening after taraweeh, the special prayers that take place during Ramadan.

Worshippers were attacked with stun grenades and rubber bullets before they were expelled, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Witnesses said a number of Palestinians were injured and had to be taken for treatment by ambulance.

Since the beginning of Ramadan, Israeli troops have tried to stop Palestinian worshippers from spending nights inside Al-Aqsa in a religious practice known as itikaaf.

The escalation at the site raises concern of a repeat of May 2021, when Israel conducted an 11-day bombing campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip that killed more than 250 Palestinians.

Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 90 Palestinians so far in 2023.