1000’s of worshippers attend prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, with others turned away regardless of carrying required permits.
Printed On 27 Feb 2026
About 100,000 Palestinian worshippers have prayed on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem for the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, regardless of Israel imposing extreme restrictions on entry to the holy website.
Worshippers have been subjected to thorough safety screening on Friday as they made their manner by means of the Qalandiya checkpoint within the occupied West Financial institution north of Jerusalem to hope, an Al Jazeera group reported, amid a heavy deployment of Israeli forces across the metropolis.
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Israeli authorities imposed guidelines initially of Ramadan to restrict entry for Friday prayers to only 10,000 Palestinian worshippers with day by day permits – a small fraction of the lots of of 1000’s who would attend in regular years.
Beneath the Israeli guidelines, solely males over 55, girls 50 years or older, and kids underneath 12, accompanied by a relative, are permitted to enter.
Guests are additionally required to finish digital verification procedures at crossings when returning to the West Financial institution.
Bans on people
In addition to the restrictions, Israeli authorities not too long ago introduced bans on 280 Jerusalem residents, together with spiritual figures, journalists, and launched prisoners, from attending prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The push to restrict Palestinians’ entry to the holy website throughout Ramadan is broadly seen as a part of an effort to strain Palestinian communities and erase the Palestinian cultural identification of occupied East Jerusalem, which Palestinians view because the capital of their future state.
The restrictions have additional elevated because the genocidal warfare on Gaza started in October 2023.
Turned away regardless of permits
Regardless of the restrictions, attendance on the mosque was significantly larger than the supposed cap of 10,000 guests, because it was the previous week, when Jerusalem’s Islamic Waqf, the spiritual authority that administers the compound, mentioned 80,000 folks attended the primary Friday prayers of Ramadan.
But many Palestinians who tried to attend, together with some who mentioned that they had the required permits, discovered themselves turned away by Israeli authorities.
Najati Oweida, who travelled from Hebron, informed Anadolu that Israeli troopers turned him again regardless of presenting a allow.
“The occupation claims it has supplied facilitation, however the procedures are strict,” he mentioned. “I solely wish to pray at Al-Aqsa. Why am I being prevented?”
One other man, Ali Nawas, 58, informed the information company that he and his spouse had travelled for greater than an hour from Nablus within the occupied West Financial institution, just for his spouse to be turned again on the Qalandiya checkpoint, regardless of her having a allow.
“I used to be pressured to return along with her. How may she return to Nablus alone?” he mentioned.
