Despite IOF restrictions, 100,000 Palestinians attend Al-Aqsa prayers
The worshippers attended the first Friday of Ramadan prayers challenging the Israeli occupation's heavy restrictions and assaults this week.
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Muslims offer prayer on the first Friday of Ramadan outside the Dome of Rock Mosque at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Al-Qud's Old City, Friday, March 24, 2023 (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Al-Quds received tens of thousands of worshipers on the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan despite Israeli occupation's heightened restrictions targeting Palestinians attending the noon prayers.
"I cannot describe to you how happy I am to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque. I'm 50 years old and they only recently removed the security ban that had prevented me from coming here," Nasser Abu Saleh said, a resident of the West Bank city of Al-Khalil.
Recently, the attacks and violations of the Israeli occupation authorities against the Mosque and the occupied city of Al-Quds and its Palestinian residents have escalated. Moreover, the calls to storm Al-Aqsa and attempts to impose control over the Mosque have increased.
The Israeli occupation, however, prohibited men under 55 years of age and children over 12 from the occupied West Bank from attending the prayers at the Al-Qsa mosque, deploying thousands of IOF across occupied Al-Quds.
Israeli target Palestinians during the Holy Month
The Israeli occupation forces arrested 4 Palestinian youths and assaulted several others in Bab Al-Amoud in the center of occupied Al-Quds.
On Thursday, eyewitnesses said the occupation forces arrested two Palestinian youths in Bab Al-Amoud after assaulting them.
Before the arrests, hundreds of Palestinians gathered at Damascus Gate to celebrate the month of Ramadan, where they sang traditional and religious songs, which disturbed the Israeli occupation forces.
Witnesses stated that the occupation forces assaulted a number of other citizens and street vendors in Damascus Gate, severely beating them with batons. They also arrested two other Palestinians in the Al-Qibli prayer hall inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, shortly before the tension began at Damascus Gate.
Read more: Dozens of settlers storm Al-Aqsa, assault Palestinian women
قوات الاحتلال تعتدي على بسطات الباعة في منطقة باب العامود بالقدس المحتلة
— #القدس_ينتفض 🇵🇸 (@MyPalestine0) March 23, 2023
حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل pic.twitter.com/24fgx733fH
