Tens of Thousands Perform Friday Prayers at the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque

The occupation forces imposed strict restrictions on worshippers inside the city of Jerusalem in conjunction with the so-called "Jewish New Year" (Rosh Hashanah) holiday, deploying heavily, setting up iron barriers in the city's streets, and around the Old Town and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In a separate context, dozens of settlers desecrated on Friday the Bab al-Rahma cemetery, adjacent to the eastern wall of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, performing Talmudic rituals and blowing the shofar alongside Muslim graves under the protection of the Israeli occupation police, on the eve of the so-called "Jewish New Year".

The official Palestinian news agency (WAFA), citing the Jerusalem Governorate, reported that these rituals were conducted from the outer side of the cemetery for the third consecutive week, amid escalating demands by the alleged Temple groups to impose their religious rituals inside Al-Aqsa Mosque during Jewish holidays.

It added that since settlers are barred from holding some of these rituals inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, they are moving to impose them in its surroundings, in front of its gates, and in the areas adjacent to its wall—foremost among them the Bab al-Rahma cemetery—in an attempt to impose a new reality, expand the manifestations of Judaization from inside the mosque to its surroundings, and target its Islamic identity as well as the status of the sanctities and surrounding landmarks.

The Governorate warned against exploiting the Jewish holiday season to expand incursions, impose new religious rituals, extend the times and areas of presence for the intruders, harass worshippers and Waqf employees, and undermine the components of the historical and legal status quo at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.