More than 100,000 Muslim worshippers performed Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, the holy site’s Islamic authority reported, after it reopened the previous day following a truce agreed between the United States and Iran.
Jerusalem’s Old City is home to major holy sites for all three Abrahamic religions, which had been shuttered since the start of the war sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28. Within the Old City lie the Al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims, the Western Wall for Jews, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians — all located in East Jerusalem, a territory occupied and annexed by Israel.
The sites reopened to worshippers on Thursday, a day after Washington and Tehran declared a two-week ceasefire in the Middle East war.
Muslim worshippers had been unable to access the Al-Aqsa even during the holy month of Ramadan this year.
On Friday, more than 100,000 Muslims performed the weekly Friday prayer at Al-Aqsa, according to the Islamic Waqf, the Jordanian body that administers the site.
AFPTV live footage showed the compound packed with worshippers. “Hopefully they will not close Al-Aqsa again, and everyone will be able to come to this holy place -whether residents of Jerusalem or from the West Bank,” said 30-year-old Mohammad Saaedeh. Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank remain subject to strict Israeli restrictions based on age and permit quotas.
“Friday prayer is an obligation for us, but performing it at Al-Aqsa is something entirely different,” said Sharif Mohammad, 39, referring to the site´s status as Islam’s third-holiest shrine.
“It´s an indescribable feeling,” added Ahmad Ammar, 55.
Beyond the reopening of the holy sites in Jerusalem, the Israeli authorities have lifted most of the restrictions linked to the state of emergency over the war with Iran.
This excludes the country’s northern border area near Lebanon, where the war against Iran-backed Hezbollah continues.