Awad Rjoob and Rania Abu Shamala
27 March 2025•Update: 27 March 2025
RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL
Around 180,000 Muslim worshippers performed Tarawih prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and prepared to observe the 27th night of Ramadan—Laylat al-Qadr—despite Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to the mosque.
Laylat al-Qadr is the holiest night in Islam, when the Holy Quran was first revealed. It falls on one of the odd nights in the last 10 days of Ramadan.
In a brief statement, the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem said: “Approximately 180,000 worshippers performed the Isha and Tarawih prayers on the 26th night of the blessed month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque, in preparation for the observance of Laylat al-Qadr.”
Worshippers managed to reach the mosque despite the fact that “the (Israeli) occupation turned the city of Jerusalem into a military zone and imposed tight restrictions on those arriving at Al-Aqsa Mosque to observe Laylat al-Qadr tonight,” according to a statement by the Jerusalem Governorate, the highest Palestinian local authority in the city.
According to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a local human rights group in Jerusalem, “a number of those banned from Al-Aqsa performed the Isha and Tarawih prayers just outside the mosque gates.”
Eyewitnesses said that hundreds of buses arrived in Jerusalem from Arab towns and villages inside Israel as part of local campaigns to revive Laylat al-Qadr at Al-Aqsa.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities prevented Palestinians from the West Bank under the age of 55 for men and 50 for women from entering Jerusalem.
“Today, Wednesday, Israeli occupation forces barred thousands of citizens from reaching occupied Jerusalem to observe Laylat al-Qadr at Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
“Thousands of people flocked to Qalandiya checkpoint and the ‘300’ checkpoint between the cities of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank and Jerusalem, but the occupation forces—who had reinforced their presence at both checkpoints—prevented the majority from entering the holy city,” it added.
The 27th night of Ramadan holds special significance for Muslims. It is one of the last 10 nights of the month, during which worshippers spend the night in prayer from after the Isha prayer until the dawn call to prayer (Fajr).
Tension has been running high across the West Bank, where at least 938 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Health Ministry.
In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s longstanding occupation of Palestinian territories illegal, calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
