The Palestinians held Friday prayers at the Bab al-Rahma chapel at the Al-Aqsa Mosque for the first time since Israel closed it in 2003. While the Israeli occupation forces launched a massive wave of arrests in the occupied city of Jerusalem, 50 Palestinians were warned by Fatah and Hamas Aqsa Mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem.

The Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported that two Palestinians, led by the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, and the chairman and members of the Islamic Waqf Council and the sheikhs of Jerusalem, reopened the chapel and the Bab al-Rahma building.

According to the agency that the worshipers were organized, to perform Friday prayers at the maximum, including the chapel of the door of mercy, which was filled with worshipers.

Palestinians pray in the squares around the Gate of Mercy to express their refusal to continue its closure and demand that they be reopened.

The occupation authorities closed the door of mercy in 2003, and renewed its closure annually since then, despite the ongoing claims by the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem to reopen.

At the time, the Israeli occupation authorities justified the closure of the door of mercy with the existence of an institution that considers it illegal, but the Islamic Waqf Department confirmed that this institution no longer exists.

Meanwhile, Israeli police said that dozens of people were stopped by Israeli forces to avoid disturbances around the Al-Aqsa mosque, which witnessed clashes between worshipers and Israeli police in recent days.

A total of 60 people were arrested, a police spokesman said.

"Police will continue to make arrests and do what is necessary," the spokesman said.

The Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of large-scale arrests, after calls for a walk to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and perform Friday prayers near the courtyard of Bab al-Rahma.

According to local sources, the arrests were concentrated in neighborhoods: Silwan, Issawiya, Jabal al-Mukaber, the old town, Wadi al-Joz, Shu'fat camp and Ras al-Amud.

On Monday, Fatah and Hamas warned Israel about the situation in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Fatah said Jerusalem and al-Aqsa were "a red line, and that Israel was responsible for its criminal actions in the courtyards of the mosque." The Fatah movement, in the words of a member of its Revolutionary Council and its spokesman, Osama al-Qawasmi, salute to "Almoravid steadfast fighters in Jerusalem, who opened the door of mercy, blasphemous and waving the flag of Palestine."

Qawasmi said that Fatah "was and will remain side by side with our people, spearheading the fight against the occupation of Jerusalem and defending our holy sites everywhere." For its part, Hamas considered that the Palestinians "set a day (yesterday) a great example, insisting on the march to Jerusalem, to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque, despite all the obstacles placed by the occupation of threats and arrests."

Hamas said in a statement that the maximum is "a red line, the occupation can not be attacked, or the implementation of its plans to change its reality and control."

"The Israeli occupation should be well aware of the message of the venerable masses defending its sanctity and sanctities by stopping its aggression and desist from tampering with its Islamic and Arab identity. All its attempts will be broken on the rock of our people's steadfastness and sacrifices," he said.