– About 70,000 Palestinian worshipers performed Friday prayers today at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem’s Islamic Waqf confirmed that around 70,000 worshipers performed the Friday prayers at the mosque today.
The Waqf said Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, 1948-occupied Palestine, and occupied Jerusalem succeeded in reaching the holy site and attending the Friday sermon and prayers despite Israel’s strict restrictions.
Ahead of the prayers, Israeli occupation forces deployed at the mosques’ gates and in its vicinity.
Following the Friday prayer, the worshipers also performed the absentee prayer for the victims of the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Every Friday, thousands of Palestinians stream to the Al-Aqsa mosque, the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims to attend the prayers and recite the Holy Quran.
Israeli occupation authorities have allowed settler incursions to the mosque since 2003 under the forces’ protection, despite repeated objections and warnings by the Palestinian religious authorities as the visits provoke worshipers of the mosque.
While the forces facilitate the settlers’ illegal incursions to the holy site, they attack, arrest, harass and obstruct movement of Palestinian worshipers in their way to the mosque and at the mosque.
In 2021, 34,562 Israeli settlers broke into the holy site, setting a new record, as in 2020, 19,000 settlers broke into the mosque and 29,700 settlers in 2019, according to Al-Qastal, a Palestinian network hub for Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem.
Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two prominent Jewish temples in ancient times. The complex also includes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the most sacred Christian sites in the world.
