Israeli authorities have extended morning visiting hours for Jewish worshippers at the Temple Mount by one hour during Ramadan, marking the first such move during the Islamic holy month.
An Israel Police spokesman confirmed to JNS on Sunday that the holiest site for the Jewish people would be open for Jews between 6:30 and 11:30 a.m., Sunday through Thursday, as non-Muslims are routinely barred from visiting in the afternoon hours during Ramadan, which began on Tuesday evening.
The Temple Mount Yeshivah in a statement welcomed “the expansion of the hours of ascension to the Temple Mount during the morning” while expressing “deep appreciation” to the police and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for his policy changes at the holy site.
On Jan. 21, the Israel Police confirmed to JNS that, for the first time, it had been allowing “guidance sheets” for prayer to be brought onto the Temple Mount, in what some described as a deviation from the 1967 status quo agreement with the Jordanian-run Islamic Waqf Islamic trust that manages the mosque built on the ruins of the Jewish Temples.
The status quo has increasingly been tested in recent years, with Jewish rights activists pushing the boundaries and police at times appearing to tolerate visible prayer, in particular since Ben-Gvir took office in 2022.
Thousands of Israeli security personnel were deployed across Jerusalem and the surrounding areas on Friday as authorities went on alert for the first mass prayers of Ramadan, traditionally a period of heightened tensions.
Around 80,000 Muslims worshippers ascended the Mount, mostly Arab-Israelis, but including up to 10,000 Palestinians from Judea and Samaria.
Israel Police Jerusalem District Deputy Subdistrict Commander Arad Braverman told reporters last week that the goal is to allow “everyone, [Muslims and Jews], to reach the Temple Mount,” excluding rioters.
Jews who enter the historic flashpoint will arrive “during the customary hours according to the customary rules that have been in place,” police spokesman Dean Elsdunne told JNS during the same press briefing.
He added that approved guidance sheets for Jewish prayer were permitted in certain areas that “are limited to police direction.”
