For the first time since 1967, al-Aqsa mosque – Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site – was closed at the end of Ramadan on Friday, with tensions rising among Palestinians as Israeli authorities keep the complex shut, forcing worshippers to hold Eid prayers as close as they could to the sealed site.
On Friday morning, hundreds of worshippers were forced to pray outside the Old City, as Israeli police barricaded the entrances to the site.
Because of security concerns related to the US-Israeli war on Iran, on 28 February Israeli authorities had in effect sealed off the mosque complex in Jerusalem to most Muslim worshippers during Ramadan. Officials framed the move as a security measure linked to the escalating confrontation with Iran, leaving thousands of Palestinians to gather and pray outside the gates of the Old City instead.
However, Palestinians say the move is part of a wider Israeli strategy to leverage security tensions to tighten restrictions and entrench control over the al-Aqsa mosque complex, known as al-Haram al-Sharif to Muslims, which also encompasses the seventh-century Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine. To Jews it is the Temple Mount, the site of the 10th-century BC first temple and second temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in AD70.
“Tomorrow will be the saddest day for Muslim worshippers in Jerusalem,” Hazen Bulbul, a 48-year-old Jerusalem resident who has marked the end of Ramadan at al-Aqsa mosque since childhood, told the Guardian. “What I fear is that this sets a dangerous precedent. It may be the first time, but probably not the last. Israeli interference in the holy city has been escalating since 7 October [2023],” he said, referring to the Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Gaza war.
In recent months, there has been a sharp increase in arrests of Palestinian worshippers and religious staff in the Old City, alongside repeated incursions into the complex by Israeli settlers. Police have detained individuals inside the mosque precinct, including during prayer times, and restricted access for many Palestinians seeking to enter.
The Old City, usually crowded with Palestinians in the days leading up to Eid, was largely deserted on Friday, with streets left unusually quiet.
Palestinian shopkeepers were barred from opening most businesses, with only pharmacies and essential food shops allowed to operate. Traders said the measures had pushed them into acute economic hardship.
Some tensions escalated at around 6am when Israeli forces blocked worshippers from entering the Old City through Herod’s Gate, deploying what appeared to be stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the preacher of al-Aqsa and former grand mufti of Jerusalem, has issued a religious ruling urging Muslims to perform Eid prayers at the closest possible point to the mosque. With a heavy security presence in the alleys of the Old City, and Israeli forces carrying out searches and confronting residents, many fear that tensions over the mosque’s closure on the final day of Ramadan could escalate into clashes with police.
The closure has drawn condemnation from the Arab League, which described it as a “blatant violation of international law” and said it risked undermining freedom of worship and inflaming tensions across the region.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the League of Arab States and the African Union Commission have expressed their strong condemnation for the closure of al-Aqsa mosque to Muslim worshippers, “especially during the blessed month of Ramadan”.
In a joint statement, they said the closure “constitutes a grave violation of the existing historical and legal status quo in the Islamic and Christian holy sites in the occupied city of Jerusalem, an assault on the established religious rights and heritage of the Islamic nation, a provocation to the feelings of Muslims throughout the world, and a violation of freedom of worship and the sanctity of holy places”.
“Israel, the occupying power, the statement reads, “bears full responsibility for the consequences of these illegal and provocative measures.” It adds that their continuation “portends an escalation of violence and tension and threatens to undermine regional and international peace and security”.
Khalil Assali, the director of the media unit in the president’s office at al-Quds University, said the mosque’s closure was “a catastrophe for Palestinians”.
He added: “When Israelis see young Palestinians trying to pray at the closest point to al-Aqsa mosque they run after them, they kick them out while they are praying.”
Sorrow and joy in the ruins of Gaza
Meanwhile, in Gaza a deepening humanitarian crisis grinds on, overshadowed by the wider war. Though more sporadic, Israeli bombardments have not ceased, as hundreds of thousands of Muslims prepare to mark the end of Ramadan amid the ruins of wrecked cities.
Gaza lives through Eid as a place of stark contrasts – sorrow and fleeting joy, hunger and celebration, grief and the fragile resilience of daily life – where the sound of bombardment now mingles with those marking the end of Ramadan.
“The joy of Eid is incomplete,” said Sadeeqa Omar, 32, a mother of two children who was displaced from northern Gaza to Deir al-Balah. “Each of us carries our own burdens. Some have lost their homes, others have lost family members. As for me, my husband is far away and cannot return to Gaza due to the closure of the crossings. Still, we try as much as we can to follow our religious teachings, which encourage us to show joy during Eid.”
“In the first year of the war, during Ramadan, we were displaced from al-Qarara,” said Alaa Al-Farra, 49, who lives in Khan Younis. “This Eid will not be very different from previous Eids, as our movement remains limited due to sudden daily airstrikes.’’
After months of war, traces of tradition have cautiously returned. In crowded camps, the scent of kaek and maamoul pastries drifted from makeshift ovens fuelled by scraps, as families tried to recreate rituals many children have never known. Markets glowed with sweets and colour, but for many they remained out of reach – hands hovered then retreated, as parents settled for the smallest offerings to grant a momentary sense of festivity.
On Thursday, for the first time since Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran, the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza reopened, allowing some UN convoys in. Yet Eid’s joy is unevenly felt.
“Of course, there is a relative sense of safety after the ceasefire, but it is not enough,” said Kholoud Baba, 42, from Gaza City. “Just last week, an area near our home in western Gaza was evacuated in preparation for an airstrike. This happened close to the Iftar time, forcing displaced people to leave without taking anything with them.”
Behind the subdued celebrations lies a landscape of loss: mothers mourning children killed in recent strikes, and others marking the holiday in silence, stripped of its rituals, navigating Eid with little more than memory.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
