Great numbers of Palestinian worshipers attended at dawn on Friday the Al-Fajr prayer at the Al-Aqsa mosque in the occupied city of Jerusalem, pledging to protect the holy site from Israeli occupation violations.
Despite Israel’s strict restrictions, local sources said thousands of Palestinian worshipers performed the Al-Fajr prayer at the mosque to support the “Great Fajr” campaign to pray at the holy sites.
The worshipers then gathered in the prayer halls of the mosque, confirming their spiritual links to the holy site and rejecting the Israeli systematic Judaization policy.
They also have their breakfast at the courtyards of the mosque.
Local sources reported that Israeli occupation forces attacked Palestinian worshipers heading to the holy site to attend the Fajr prayer and prevented hundreds of them from entering the site.
The worshipers who were prevented from entering the mosque decided to pray the Fajr prayer at the mosque’s gates in the cold weather.
Every Friday, thousands of Palestinians stream to the Al-Aqsa mosque, the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. They recite the Holy Quran before performing the Al-Fajr prayer at dawn and the Friday prayers in the afternoon.
The “Great Fajr” campaign was launched for the first time in 2020 and started from the fourth holiest place in the Islamic world, Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque, to stand against Israeli occupation’s violations against the mosque and its attempt to Judaize it, including the repeated raids by colonial Israeli settlers.
There have been calls by Palestinian officials for Muslim worshipers to perform prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque at all times amid aggressive Israeli attacks committed against the mosque.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir broke into the holy site amid tight security measures. The break-in lasted for 13 minutes, drawing a flood of international condemnations.
He requested to break into the site on Monday, according to Israeli media. On Sunday, Ben-Gvir said he would visit the holy site in the near future. New Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly spoke with Ben-Gvir on Monday to discuss his intention to visit the site. The Likud confirmed that, following consultations with security establishment officials, Netanyahu did not object to Ben-Gvir’s break-in.
Ben-Gvir, who was sworn in last week as part of a new government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is known for his extreme views.
His last storming of the holy site took place last March and lasted about fifteen minutes. In May last year, accompanied by his wife and son, Ben-Gvir posted a picture calling for the destruction of the site to “establish a synagogue on the mountain”.
Since 2014, stormings by Israeli occupation officials to the Al-Aqsa Mosque have been considered provocations and a threat to the status quo. Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s storming to the site in 2000 sparked the Second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising.
