Zionist occupation forces have prevented Muslims from entering Masjid al-Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam located in Jerusalem, Palestine, for the first Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan. As thousands of Muslim worshippers attempted to enter the mosque’s courtyard to observe this significant religious occasion, the Zionist authorities actively blocked their access. The Zionist terrorist state later announced that it would limit entry to Muslims from the occupied West Bank to only 10,000 individuals at a time. Furthermore, they stipulated that access would only be granted to children under the age of 12, men over 55, and women over 50.
However, media reports indicated that the Zionist military established checkpoints around Al-Aqsa Mosque yesterday, permitting only approximately 2,000 Muslims to enter the courtyard for Friday prayers. While the West Bank is home to nearly 3.3 million Muslims, previous years have seen upwards of 250,000 worshippers gather at Al-Aqsa for the first Friday of Ramadan. Jerusalem has been under Zionist occupation since the 1967 Middle East War, during which they established a colonial rule over Muslim lands. Al-Aqsa remains under their control, and Zionist soldiers and police frequently storm the mosque, carrying out acts of aggression, shedding Muslim blood, and desecrating the sanctity of the holy site. This obstruction of Muslim worship comes at a time when the Zionist entity is intensifying its efforts to seize and annex further Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank.
The recent approval by the Zionist cabinet to allow the registration of these stolen lands under Zionist ownership has drawn widespread condemnation and outrage from numerous countries across the globe.
