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Palestinian wounded in April clashes with Israel police dies

Palestinian gather to protest after Friday prayers, the third of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, on April 22, 2022
— Jerusalem (AFP)

A Palestinian man died on Saturday of wounds suffered last month during clashes with Israeli police at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, an Israeli hospital said.

Walid al-Sharif, 23, was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital with a "head injury" on April 22 and he was "pronounced dead this morning", the hospital said in a statement.

His family confirmed his death in an audio message shared with journalists.

Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem is Islam's third-holiest site which is also the most holy site for Jews, who call it the Temple Mount.

Palestinians have been angered by an uptick in Jewish visits to the compound, where by longstanding convention Jews may go but are not allowed to pray.

Palestinian news agency Wafa, quoting a family member, said Sharif had been shot in the head with "a rubber-coated metal bullet fired by Israeli occupation forces".

A spokesman for Hadassah hospital told AFP there had been no signs that Sharif had been hit by gunfire.

Israeli police said his injury was caused when he fell and hit his head while throwing stones at security forces.

Clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at Al-Aqsa in April left nearly 300 people wounded, most of them Palestinians, and killed one Palestinian.

The violence, including in the occupied West Bank, followed a wave of attacks in Israel and raids by the Israeli military.

Anti-Israeli attacks have killed at least 19 people since March 22, including an Arab-Israeli police officer and two Ukrainians.

A total of 32 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have died during the same period, according to an AFP tally, among them perpetrators of attacks and those killed by Israeli security forces in West Bank operations.