JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL
Around 80,000 Palestinians performed the first weekly Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, including only 10,000 worshippers from the West Bank amid tightened Israeli restrictions, local authorities said.
In a brief statement, the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem said 80,000 worshippers performed the first Friday prayer of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli police deployed heavily around the mosque compound and throughout Jerusalem’s Old City and its alleys before the prayers.
Police said that 3,000 officers have been deployed across East Jerusalem on Friday. The measures coincided with Israeli restrictions on Palestinians traveling from the occupied West Bank to the occupied city.
Witnesses told Anadolu that Israeli forces blocked thousands of worshippers at checkpoints surrounding East Jerusalem, preventing them from reaching the mosque.
The Palestinian governorate of Jerusalem said thousands of West Bank residents crowded at the Qalandia checkpoint. Israeli authorities denied them entry, claiming that “the 10,000-person quota for Friday had been filled,” the governorate added.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the Israeli political leadership approved a plan last Wednesday allowing up to 10,000 Palestinian worshippers from the West Bank to enter Al-Aqsa for Friday prayers during Ramadan.
Under the plan, Palestinians from the West Bank must obtain a special daily permit in advance for each prayer.
Access from the West Bank is limited to men aged 55 and older, women aged 50 and older, and children under 12 accompanied by a first-degree relative, according to Channel 12.
The Israeli army said all permits require “prior security approval” and that worshippers must complete digital verification procedures at crossings when returning to the West Bank.
During Ramadan, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians typically travel from the West Bank to East Jerusalem to pray at Al-Aqsa. The influx usually fills the compound and boosts commercial activity in the Old City’s markets.
However, Israeli authorities have imposed strict movement restrictions on West Bank residents at military checkpoints leading to East Jerusalem since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023.
Over the past two years, Israeli authorities have allowed only limited numbers of West Bank Palestinians to enter with Israeli army-issued permits, which many Palestinians say “are difficult to obtain.”
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Palestinians view occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, as the capital of their future state, while Israel considers Jerusalem, including both its eastern and western sectors, its capital.