Jerusalem, Mar 11 (EFE).- Israeli police have barred hundreds of Palestinians from entering the al-Aqsa Mosque compound for their nightly prayers to mark the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, which started on Monday amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday night, following the sighting of the Ramadan crescent, dozens of Muslims gathered at the entrance of the mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem to participate in the special congregational prayers known as tarawih.
Videos circulating on social media depicted police officers wielding batons and blocking people from accessing the mosque, the third holiest site for Muslims, which is also revered by Jewish people as the Temple Mount.
Local media reported on Monday that some young people did manage to enter the mosque on Sunday night, either accompanied by their parents or after some officers permitted entry through specific entrances.
Barring the worshipers from offering prayers contradicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge of no restrictions on freedom of worship during Ramadan, despite demands from ultra-rightist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvir, a proponent of the settler movement and religious Zionism, argued last week that uncontrolled access to the Temple Mount could lead to “Hamas celebrations.”
During Ramadan, Israel typically issues thousands of special permits to Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, granting them access to Al-Aqsa for prayers.
Last year, the month of fasting attracted over four million worshipers to East Jerusalem, mostly Palestinians, with up to 250,000 gathering on Fridays.
The al-Aqsa compound houses the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, where it is believed the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, making it the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
For Jews, the location known as the Temple Mount is associated with biblical narratives like Abraham’s intended sacrifice of his son Isaac and the site of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
Meanwhile, the conflict in the Gaza Strip persisted, with Israeli aerial strikes claiming dozens of lives on the Ramadan eve.
The Israeli military said its troops hit several targets of the Islamist Hamas militant group, especially in the central and southern parts of the enclave, where unending Israeli bombardments have killed more than 31,100 people in the last 157 days of war.
The Gaza health ministry, under the control of the Hamas group that de facto rules the strip, said at least 67 people were killed and 106 others injured in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours, starting Sunday morning.
Israeli military sources claimed to have killed about 15 militants in the center of the strip “in hand-to-hand combat.”
More than 72,760 people have been injured in Gaza since Oct 7, when the war erupted after a Hamas attack in Israel killed about 1,200 people.
During the five-month conflict, at least 25 people, mostly infants, died from malnutrition and dehydration. Additionally, approximately two million Gazans have been forcibly displaced from their residences, with about 60 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure sustaining damage or destruction, according to the UN. EFE
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