Approximately 90,000 Muslims, including thousands from Judea and Samaria, ascended the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City for the first mass prayers of Ramadan on Friday morning, according to the Jordanian-appointed Waqf trust, which administers the Islamic edifices on the holy site.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced on Thursday night that government ministers “approved the recommendation of the security establishment for the entry of a limited number of Muslim worshippers from Judea and Samaria to the Temple Mount on the Fridays during Ramadan, in a similar format to that which existed last year.”
Last week, the Israel Police recommended that 10,000 Muslims at a time from Judea and Samaria be allowed to pray at the Temple Mount—Judaism’s holiest site—which is also home to the Al-Aqsa mosque.
According to the framework approved by the government, Palestinian men aged 55 and over, women aged 50 and over and children up to the age of 12 will be able to enter the Israeli capital “subject to receiving a permit and an advance security assessment, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.
The Palestinians will enter via “regular crossings following a full security check prior to entering Israel,” it said, adding that Jerusalem seeks to “enable freedom of religious worship for all faiths and nationalities.”
The statement stressed that there are no entry limits for Arab Israelis.
The Israel Police deployed around 3,000 personnel, including Border Police officers, in Jerusalem on Friday.
Police “will operate with reinforced forces, particularly at the crossings around Jerusalem’s perimeter, in the eastern part of the city, and in the alleyways of the Old City, to maintain public safety and security, direct and regulate traffic and enable freedom of worship in accordance with the necessary security and safety aspects,” police stated on Thursday.
On Friday, security in the capital will be tightened to “prevent attempts by hostile elements to exploit the days of the Ramadan month for incitement, disorder, terrorism or any form of violence,” it added.
Terrorists released from prison as part of the current hostage deal with the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza and who were allowed to return to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria have been banned from the Temple Mount.
Ahead of the Islamic holy month, the terrorist group aimed to incite a wave of terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, including on the Temple Mount.
On Feb. 27, Harun Nasser al-Din, who oversees Hamas’s Jerusalem office but has been based abroad in recent months, called for a “full confrontation against the occupation’s incursions, an uprising against its projects, and no surrender to attempts at Judaization and expulsion.”
The Islamist group also said that it viewed restrictions on the number of Palestinian worshippers as “a dangerous escalation and precedent aimed at undermining freedom of worship at Al-Aqsa mosque.”
