Palestinians welcome the first night of Ramadan at the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in the Old City of Jerusalem (French)
The Israeli occupation authorities imposed restrictions on young people entering Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Tarawih on Sunday evening, the night of the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he is the one who decides on the occupation police’s incursions into Al-Aqsa’s courtyards during Ramadan.
Tarawih prayers were held in Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid exceptional measures imposed by the occupation police, which included restrictions on the entry of young men, and assaulted a number of them by beating them at a number of the gates of the Holy Mosque.
Eyewitnesses reported, on Sunday evening, that “the occupation forces detained worshipers at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, obstructed their access to it, and imposed restrictions on young people’s entry to Al-Aqsa to perform Tarawih, and women over the age of 40 were allowed to enter.”
Reports said that the number of Palestinians who were prevented by the occupation from entering Al-Aqsa was greater than the number of worshipers who were able to enter to perform Tarawih prayers.
Distrust
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assigned himself the responsibility of making the decision to storm Al-Aqsa or not during the month of Ramadan.
During the past few weeks, the Shin Bet Security Agency and the Israeli army called on Netanyahu to make the decision himself, and unusually, about whether to storm the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, because this is an event that could lead to many possible consequences, according to the authority.
She believed that this step expresses the lack of confidence of the Shin Bet and the army in the police and its supervisor, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir.
A few days ago, Netanyahu rejected a recommendation from Ben Gvir not to allow residents of the occupied West Bank to enter the Temple Mount at all during the month of Ramadan, while allowing Palestinian residents of Israel to enter from the age of 70 and above.
It is noteworthy that Israel is working to Judaize occupied East Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, while the Palestinians cling to the city as the capital of their hoped-for state, based on international legitimacy resolutions that do not recognize Israel’s occupation of the city in 1967 nor its annexation by the occupation authorities in 1981.
It is noteworthy that the occupation forces have imposed a strict siege on Al-Aqsa Mosque since the beginning of the occupation’s aggression against the Gaza Strip on October 7, and also impose restrictions on the entry of worshipers into it.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies