JERUSALEM, More than 160,000 Muslim worshipers performed today the fourth and last Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, despite Israel’s restrictions on the entry of worshipers to the holy site.
About 160,000 faithful, most of them Palestinians from Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Arab towns inside Israel, prayed at al-Aqsa Mosque today, the third holiest site in Islam, said the Jordan-run Islamic Waqf authority overseeing the compound.
Israeli police and security forces shut down multiple roads and alleys leading to the old city of Jerusalem, forcing worshipers to use significantly longer routes to reach the holy site.
Israeli occupation forces also deployed large numbers of troops at the gates leading to the holy site, inspecting worshipers’ identify cards and conducting a bodily search for some of them.
Israeli police further tightened their security measures around the holy site, but prayers passed peacefully. Thousands of Palestinians prayed at Israeli checkpoints leading to Jerusalem from the West Bank after being blocked from entering the holy city.
Earlier today, over 40 worshipers inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque were hurt in an Israeli raid on the holy site. The raid was the latest in a series of almost daily attacks since April 15 in which the Israeli Police have used brutal force against Muslim worshipers staying there for worship on the last days of Ramadan.
Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the global community.
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency