Al-Aqsa Mosque: Tens of thousands join for Ramazan’s first Friday prayer

JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of worshippers prayed at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem for the first Friday prayer of this year’s Ramadan, with no notable incidents reported by Israeli police.

Many entered Jerusalem’s Old City through Damascus Gate to reach the mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, with hundreds of people heading in the same direction under the watchful eye of Israeli police.

Thousands stood shoulder to shoulder in the mosque’s compound as the prayer resonated on speakers, prostrating themselves on prayer mats under a sunny sky with their backs to the shrine’s iconic golden dome, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

While most worshippers live in east Jerusalem or Israel proper, some crossed Israeli checkpoints to reach the mosque from the occupied West Bank, including at Qalandia, the main passage point between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

An AFP journalist witnessed a large crowd waiting to be allowed in by Israeli soldiers, while troops in riot gear stood by.

The Islamic Waqf, the Jordanian?run body that administers the site, reported that 80,000 worshippers came to the compound for the prayer.

Israel deployed thousands of extra police officers in Jerusalem to watch over the holy city for the length of Ramadan, and issued the same travel restrictions as last year for Palestinian residents of the West Bank — which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Israel announced it was issuing just 10,000 permits for Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank wishing to attend weekly Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, only available to women over 50, men over 55, and children under 12.