Over 20,000 Palestinians perform Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

JERUSALEM

More than 20,000 Palestinians held Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, the largest number since the start of the war on Gaza four months ago.

“For the first time since the beginning of the war on Gaza, more than 20,000 worshipers were able to perform Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque despite Israeli restrictions,” an official from the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem told Anadolu.

The usual attendance of worshippers on regular Fridays is over 50,000 worshipers, however, the number has largely declined since Israeli police have imposed limitations on worshippers' entry to Al-Aqsa since the commencement of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7.

At the entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem and the outer gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli police erected barriers, preventing worshippers from reaching the mosque.

Police forces were also deployed in the narrow alleys of the Old City, detaining young residents and preventing them from reaching Al-Aqsa, according to witnesses.

Israel has been imposing tight restrictions on worshipers since it launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas in which Israel says 1,200 Israelis were killed.

At least 27,947 Palestinians have been killed, including 12,000 children and 8,190 women, and 67,459 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

An interim ruling last month by the International Court of Justice told Israel to cease its abuses, but most international observers say it has been flouting the ruling.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Istanbul