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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli police and undercover forces on Sunday morning raided al-Aqsa compound, leading to clashes with Palestinian worshipers.

Eyewitness told a Ma'an reporter that an Israeli police group escorted 26 Jewish Israelis to perform religious rituals near the Golden Gate in order to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

The group was escorted by Israeli police and undercover forces, and left from al-Asbat Gate.

Israeli forces assaulted a number of Palestinian worshipers and pushed them in the clashes that followed, and they detained 5 Palestinian men and 2 women.

One of the detained was identified as Jadallah al-Ghoul, a fire department employee. He was detained in al-Aqsa mosque.

Eyewitnesses highlighted that the incident followed a number of similar raids by Israeli forces escorting groups of Jewish worshipers on the site.

35 members of Israeli intelligence, escorted by Israeli police, entered from al-Silsila Gate in a separate incident on Sunday as well, while in another group 50 Jewish Israeli toured al-Aqsa from the Moroccan Gate.

Extremist Jewish groups have called for daily tours of the al-Aqsa compound in order to mark Hanukkah.

Because of the sensitive nature of the Al-Aqsa compound, Israel maintains a compromise with the Islamic trust that controls it to not allow non-Muslim prayers in the area. Israeli forces regularly escort Jewish visitors to the site, leading to tension with Palestinian worshipers.

The compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque and is the third holiest site in Islam.

It is also venerated as Judaism's most holy place as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

According to mainstream Jewish religious leaders, Jews are forbidden from entering for fear they would profane the "Holy of Holies," or the inner sanctum of the Second Temple.

Al-Aqsa is located in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian territories that have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.