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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Nine Palestinians were injured and three detained in clashes with Israeli forces in East Jerusalem on Friday after Israeli police imposed tight restrictions on worshipers at the Al-Aqsa compound.

Medics said that nine elderly Palestinians were wounded after Israeli forces sprayed them with pepper spray while they were trying to enter the Al-Aqsa compound from the Chain Gate. The injured were treated in Al-Aqsa clinic.

Witnesses said that Israeli forces also beat one of the Al-Aqsa guards as well as another person after preventing them from entering the compound.

In Ras al-Amoud, Israeli forces arrested three Palestinian after clashes that followed Friday noon prayers.

Israeli undercover forces raided the Abu Sway area and arrested Naim al-Zaghal, 16, Hamza al-Ghoul, 17, and a third person yet to be identified, area residents said.

Israeli police confirmed that border police units detained the three, adding that they were "involved in throwing stones at officers in Ras al Amud this afternoon."

Hundreds had prayed in the streets of the Old City earlier in the day under tight police supervision after they were prevented from nearing the compound.

Police and border guards were heavily deployed throughout the city, while several major traffic junctions were closed and checkpoints erected around the Old City.

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.

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.

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