In Pictures: 50,000 Palestinians attend Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Tens of thousands of Palestinian worshipers performed Friday prayers today at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied city of Jerusalem despite Israel’s strict restrictions.

Jerusalem’s Islamic Waqf confirmed that about 50,000 worshipers performed the Friday prayers at the mosque today.

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The Waqf said Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, 1948-occupied Palestine, and occupied Jerusalem succeeded in reaching the holy site and attending the Friday sermon and prayers.

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The Israeli forces deployed at the gates of the mosque and in its vicinity ahead of the prayers. They stopped and searched the worshipers.

Every Friday, thousands of Palestinians stream to the Al-Aqsa mosque, the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims to attend the prayers and recite the Holy Quran.

Israeli occupation authorities have allowed settler incursions to the mosque since 2003 under the forces’ protection, despite repeated objections and warnings by the Palestinian religious authorities as the visits provoke worshipers of the mosque.

While the forces facilitate the settlers’ illegal incursions to the holy site, they attack, arrest, harass and obstruct the movement of Palestinian worshipers on their way to the mosque and at the mosque.

In 2021, 34,562 Israeli settlers broke into the holy site, setting a new record, as in 2020, 19,000 settlers broke into the mosque and 29,700 settlers in 2019, according to Al-Qastal, a Palestinian network hub for Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem. In 2022, over 56670 Israeli settlers broke into the mosque.

Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two prominent Jewish temples in ancient times. The holy site also includes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the most sacred Christian sites in the world.