Israel restricts Palestinian access to Al-Aqsa during first Ramadan prayers

Israeli authorities barred Palestinian worshippers from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem to perform the first Friday prayer of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, despite holding previously issued permits.

In Ramadan, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Muslims typically gather for prayer at the site.

Israeli media reported that thousands of Palestinians had crossed Israeli checkpoints into Jerusalem for the Friday prayer. 

On Wednesday, Israeli authorities said that they would cap the number of Palestinian worshippers from the West Bank attending the weekly prayers at 10,000 during Ramadan.

The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities (Cogat), the body that runs Israel's activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, said that only those over the age of 50 or under 12 would be permitted entry on Friday after prior approval from the Israeli army.

Cogat said that all permits were "conditional" and that worshippers travelling to Al-Aqsa would be required to undergo "digital documentation at the crossings".

The Times of Israel reported that Israeli military officials were holding an assessment at the Qalandiya military checkpoint, where some 2,000 Palestinians crossed this morning, according to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli army deployed large numbers of troops at checkpoints leading into the city, with senior military officers and a heavy security presence in place, Anadolu news agency reported.

'Complications to limit worshippers'

The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement that "thousands of West Bank residents are crowded at the Qalandiya checkpoint, and the Israeli authorities are refusing to allow them to enter on the grounds that the permitted number for Friday, set at 10,000 people, has been reached".

Maarof al-Rifaai, media adviser to the Palestinian Governor of Jerusalem, told Middle East Eye that the restrictions are being imposed by Israeli authorities to limit the number of worshippers. 

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"Israel claims that the permitted 10,000 people allowed to enter today, as previously specified, have already been admitted. As a result, thousands of worshippers are being turned back and denied entry," he said.

Rifaai added that a magnetic card, a permit, a fingerprint for entry and a fingerprint for exit are required, nothing that these "complications [are] intended to reduce the number of worshippers entering the city of Jerusalem on this blessed day".

Israeli forces have also prevented ambulance crews from entering, while volunteer teams have been stopped from assisting worshippers. 

"A short while ago, several young men from the ambulance crews providing assistance to worshippers were detained," Rifaai said, adding that thousands at the site were left in "tears and heartbreak".

Worshippers said that despite holding valid permits, they have been stopped at checkpoints and not been allowed to travel to Al-Aqsa. 

"I registered from the very first day to go to Al-Aqsa and obtained a permit. Early this morning, we set out after Fajr [dawn] prayer, but when we arrived here, they stopped us at the gate," Jihad Basharat, who attempted to travel to Al-Aqsa from Tammun, in the northern West Bank, told reporters. 

"There is only one gate they allow us to pass through. Three other gates are being restricted so that it becomes difficult for us. When I reached the second gate, they said my permit had been cancelled, and they sent me back here," he added. 

Build-up before Ramadan

On Monday, Israeli forces detained the imam of Al-Aqsa, Sheikh Mohammed al-Abbasi, from the mosque's courtyards without providing a reason, according to Wafa.

"[The arrest] comes amid escalating Israeli measures against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, including restrictions on imams, preachers and worshippers stationed there, limitations on the entry of worshippers, and intensifying incursions carried out by settlers under heavy protection from Israeli police," the Palestinian news agency said.

On Tuesday, Hamas condemned the arrest of Abbasi, saying he had been "served with an order banning him from the mosque". 

In a statement, the group denounced "the escalating violations by the fascist occupation government against the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the imposition of restrictions on worshippers' access, [and] the prevention of logistical preparations for the month of Ramadan".

"The intensification of raids by settler groups are dangerous interventions that fall within its persistent attempts to control and Judaise the mosque, restrict freedom of worship there, and impose temporal and spatial division," it added. 

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Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the former grand mufti of Jerusalem who is banned from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque, said the measures confirm "Israel's ambitions towards Al-Aqsa" and show it does not want Muslims to fast freely and peacefully. 

He accused Israel of seeking to "disrupt Muslims' observance of Ramadan through arbitrary actions".

Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, has stood at the centre of Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestine.

For Palestinians and Muslims worldwide, the mosque symbolises the struggle for freedom, identity and independence. For many ultra-nationalist Israelis, it is the site where they hope to see a third Jewish temple being erected.

For decades, it has been governed by an international arrangement upholding its religious status as an exclusively Islamic site. But since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israelis have been gradually eroding that status through increasing restrictions on Palestinian and Muslim access, while expanding Jewish presence and control. 

Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and cite international resolutions that do not recognise Israel's annexation of the city.

Since October 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have intensified operations across the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, involving killings, demolitions, displacement and settlement expansion.