Israel Canceled Friday Prayers At Al-Aqsa Mosque During Ramadan Again So Palestinians Prayed Outside
Israel has repeatedly restricted access to the holy mosque.
Israel has announced that Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque would be cancelled during Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam, due to security concerns after Israel and the US launched a war on Iran.
After Israel and the US launched joint unprovoked attacks on Iran, Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones at Israel and at US military bases across the region, including in Gulf states that have American military bases.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam, and for Jews, it is the historic Temple Mount, making it often a flashpoint of conflict.
It normally attracts tens of thousands of worshippers each night during Ramadan and has the capacity to take up to 500,000 people.
During Ramadan, large crowds gather nightly for Taraweeh prayers and attendance increases during the final ten nights of the holy month.
Israeli authorities said on March 5 that all holy sites in the Old City, Israeli-occupied Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa, the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, would be closed to visitors for security reasons.
The decision meant Muslims were unable to gather for Friday prayers at the mosque.
Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, a senior imam at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, criticized the move, saying, “the occupation authorities are exploiting any occasion to close Al-Aqsa, and this is completely unjustified,” according to Al Jazeera.
The mosque is still closed as of March 11, the continued closure of the mosque during the last ten days of Ramadan is a dangerous precedent, as it marks the first time since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967 that Taraweeh prayers have been prohibited inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to WAFA.
Israel has repeatedly restricted access to the holy mosque.
Earlier in February, Israeli authorities announced that no more than 10,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank would be permitted to enter the mosque compound for the first Friday prayer of Ramadan, only a fraction of the numbers that have traditionally gathered there in previous years.
In 2024, Israeli forces beat and blocked hundreds of Palestinian worshippers from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque to pray on the first night of Ramadan.
In the same year, Israeli forces also fired tear gas at worshippers in Al-Aqsa Mosque after they performed dawn prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan, one of the most sacred nights in the Islamic calendar.
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