The huge crowds tried to flee the scene but found that police had closed the exits to the compound. Border guards shot into the crowds from buildings overlooking the Haram. Ambulances approached the scene but could not immediately evacuate the wounded due to the heavy police presence. At least one gate, Bab al-Ghawanmeh, was kept closed by police for one hour after the shooting began. Demonstrations were reported in every major town in the West Bank and Gaza with Israeli soldiers firing on crowds of Palestinian civilians and police.
Clashes are ongoing.
The security situation has been steadily deteriorating since Wednesday after demonstrations erupted following an Israeli government decision to open a controversial archeological tunnel which runs along the Western wall of the Haram. Islamic waqf officials had protested the digging of an exit route for the tunnel, saying it undermined structures overhead and changed the religious status quo in the city. The scene was a tragic repeat of the 1990 shootings inside the Haram al-Sharif when 17 Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli police efforts to limit access to Jerusalem by Palestinians, the protests at that time were sparked by an attempt by militant settlers to lay a cornerstone for a third temple inside the Haram. The number of Friday worshippers was less than expected due to Israeli police efforts to limit access to Jerusalem by Palestinians from Israel. Buses and scores of cars of Palestinian Moslems from the Triangle and Galilee were stopped at Beisan as they attempted to enter the West Bank.