Jerusalem – About 125,000 Palestinians held prayers on the third Friday of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, despite Israeli restrictions and harassment.
Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, Director General of the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem, told Anadolu Agency, “125,000 worshipers performed Friday prayers today in Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Worshipers began arriving to pray at Al-Aqsa on Thursday, and the Islamic Endowments Department reported that regarding 120,000 performed the evening and Tarawih prayers in the mosque.
Hundreds of worshipers retreated to Al-Aqsa Mosque during the night hours, as thousands participated in the dawn prayer in the mosque.
The Anadolu correspondent noted a heavy presence of Israeli police forces at the entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem, which includes the mosque, and its surroundings and alleys.
The Israeli authorities prevented Palestinian males under the age of 55 and women under the age of 50 from the West Bank from entering Jerusalem to reach the mosque.
These restrictions prevented tens of thousands of worshipers from reaching the mosque to perform prayers.
Sheikh Youssef Abu Sneineh, the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, condemned in his Friday sermon the international silence regarding the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza for regarding 6 months.
The Israeli authorities have imposed restrictions on worshipers’ access to Al-Aqsa Mosque from the West Bank since the beginning of the war.
With the end of Friday prayers, worshipers spread out in the courtyards and chapels of the mosque to read the Qur’an and participate in knowledge circles.
Thousands of worshipers usually stay in the mosque to eat breakfast and perform Tarawih prayers.
The Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem allows itikaf in Al-Aqsa throughout the last ten days of Ramadan, as it is common knowledge that the Israeli police stop settlers’ raids on the mosque in the last ten days of the month every year since the raids began in 2003.
However, Ramadan this year comes in light of a fierce Israeli war launched by the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip, coinciding with a noticeable escalation in raids, arrests, and killing operations carried out by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The war on the Gaza Strip left tens of thousands of victims, most of them children and women, a humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure and property, which led to Israel being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing “genocide.”
Anatolia
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2024-03-30 04:53:13