The Israeli occupation police imposed severe restrictions on the entry of worshipers into Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayers For the 13th consecutive week since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7th.
An official in the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem told Anadolu Agency that only 15,000 were able to perform Friday prayers in the mosque, compared to more than 50,000 in the regular congregation before the war, adding that The mosque’s chapels and courtyards are almost empty of worshipers due to Israeli restrictions.
The Israeli police have imposed restrictions on the entry of worshipers into Al-Aqsa Mosque since the start of the war on October 7, but tighten the restrictions on Fridays.
Specific categories
Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli police allowed only the elderly to enter the mosque to perform prayers, adding that they attacked worshipers at Bab al-Asbat and Bab al-Sahira after preventing them from passing to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Large Israeli police forces were deployed throughout East Jerusalem, where they set up checkpoints at the entrances to the Old City and at the outer gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli measures forced hundreds of worshipers to perform prayers in the streets near the Old City, while the occupation police forces attacked worshipers in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood near Old town wastewater.
Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, which has so far left more than 22,000 Palestinians dead, in addition to more than 57,000 injured, in addition to massive infrastructure destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Gaza Strip authorities and the United Nations.