100,000 pray at Al-Aqsa amid Israeli restrictions on 2nd Friday of Ramadan | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Thousands of worshipers attend prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, with others turned away regardless of carrying required permits.

About 100,000 Palestinian worshipers have prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem for the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, regardless of Israel imposing extreme restrictions on entry to the holy website.

Worshipers have been subjected to thorough safety screening on Friday as they made their means by the Qalandiya checkpoint within the occupied West Bank north of Jerusalem to pray, an Al Jazeera workforce reported, amid a heavy deployment of Israeli forces across the metropolis.

Israeli authorities imposed guidelines at the beginning of Ramadan to restrict entry for Friday prayers to simply 10,000 Palestinian worshipers with each day permits – a small fraction of the a whole bunch of 1000’s who would attend in regular years.

Under the Israeli guidelines, solely males over 55, girls 50 years or older, and kids beneath 12, accompanied by a relative, are permitted to enter.

Visitors are additionally required to finish digital verification procedures at crossings when returning to the West Bank.

Bans on people

As properly because the restrictions, Israeli authorities lately introduced bans on 280 Jerusalem residents, together with spiritual figures, journalists, and launched prisoners, from attending prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The push to restrict Palestinians’ entry to the holy website throughout Ramadan is broadly seen as half of an effort to stress Palestinian communities and erase the Palestinian cultural identification of occupied East Jerusalem, which Palestinians view because the capital of their future state.

The restrictions have additional elevated for the reason that genocidal battle on Gaza started in October 2023.

Turned away regardless of permits

Despite the restrictions, attendance at the mosque was significantly greater than the supposed cap of 10,000 guests, because it was the previous weekWhen Jerusalem’s Islamic Waqf, the spiritual authority that administers the compound, stated 80,000 folks attended the primary Friday prayers of Ramadan.

Yet many Palestinians who tried to attend, together with some who stated that they had the required permits, discovered themselves turned away by Israeli authorities.

Najati Oweida, who traveled from Hebron, advised Anadolu that Israeli troopers turned him again regardless of presenting a allow.

“The occupation claims it has provided facilitation, but the procedures are strict,” he stated. “I only want to pray at Al-Aqsa. Why am I being prevented?”

Another man, Ali Nawas, 58, advised the information company that he and his spouse had traveled for greater than an hour from Nablus within the occupied West Bank, just for his spouse to be turned again at the Qalandiya checkpoint, regardless of her having a allow.

“I was forced to return with her. How could she go back to Nablus alone?” he stated.