OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (Palestine Foundation Information Center ) Tens of thousands of Palestinians performed Friday prayer at the Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards, despite the heavy Israeli restrictions imposed on Palestinian worshipers’ access into the holy site.
Local sources reported that worshipers coming from Occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Palestinian towns inside the 1948 occupied territories performed the Friday prayers, following mass settler incursions into the Mosque earlier in the morning.
Israeli forces stopped young and elderly men at Aqsa gates, checked their IDs, and denied entry to several others without providing any explanation.
Earlier today, large groups of settlers stormed Aqsa courtyards, particularly the area near the Buraq Wall on the western side of the Mosque and performed Talmudic rituals.
These escalated incursions have been fully supported and funded by the far-right Israeli government and extremist ministers, coinciding with an ongoing genocide campaign against Palestinians for nearly two years.
In response, Palestinian activists continued to call for increased presence and religious steadfastness (Ribat) at the Aqsa Mosque, especially on Fridays and throughout the week, to protect it from the growing settler threats.
These calls emphasize the importance of mass turnout at Aqsa as an affirmation of the historical and religious rights of Muslims to the holy site and a rejection of Israeli Judaization plans.
