Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers prayed peacefully at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on the first Friday of Ramadan despite fears of unrest due to tensions over Gaza.
The Islamic Waqf, which manages the holy site, announced that some 90,000 people attended the Friday midday prayer.
The Old City was under heavy police presence as worshipers made their way through its narrow alleys, past vendors selling food and fragrant sweets for the evening’s break-fast meal.
Located on the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has been a flashpoint for violence, particularly with large crowds gathering on Ramadan, and has seen clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces over the years, with Hamas using its religious symbolism as a means of rallying support.
Palestinian Muslims are now marking the second Ramadan since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7. Though fighting is on pause due to a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli security forces were on high alert nonetheless.
On Thursday, law enforcement said that some 3,000 officers would be deployed throughout Jerusalem to prevent “hostile elements from exploiting Ramadan for incitement, disturbances, terrorism or any form of violence.”
Hamas called on Palestinian Muslims ahead of Ramadan to travel to the Temple Mount in large numbers and oppose attempts by Israel to “desecrate and control” the site, “by any means.”
Police and border guards could be seen manning temporary checkpoints throughout the Old City, oftentimes stopping and searching passersby, young men in particular.
In a statement on Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office said it accepted the recommendation of Israel’s security establishment to grant entry permits into Jerusalem to a “reduced number of Muslim worshipers” from the West Bank.
Though the Prime Minister’s Office did not disclose how many West Bank Palestinians were granted permits, the proposal issued by Israeli security brass recommended a limit of 10,000 — according to Hebrew reports from late February.
As was the case last Ramadan, Israel allowed only Palestinian males aged 55 and older, women at least 50 years old and children aged 12 and below to enter the city for Friday prayers.
Palestinian outlets reported a long queue of people awaiting entry to Jerusalem at the Qalandia checkpoint north of the city.
There were no broad limits imposed on Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem and Arab Israelis, but police barred specific individuals from visiting the site.
Just outside the Temple Mount compound, near Lion’s Gate, some 100 others performed the prayer and were the first to exit the Old City when prayers concluded.
Following the service, crowds of people thronged the pathways leading outside the walls. Border guards near Lion’s Gate set up barricades blocking people from heading deeper into the Old City, forcing them to exit onto Jericho Street.
In 2021, clashes between police and Muslim devout atop the Temple Mount during Ramadan led to a military operation against Hamas in Gaza, during which Arab-Jewish violence erupted in parts of Israel as well.
The site is the holiest place in Judaism, where two biblical Temples once stood, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third-holiest shrine in Islam, making the site a perennial flashpoint of the Israeli-Arab conflict.