Posted on: 14/06/2025 (Last update: 14/06/2025 time: 00:03)
Jerusalem- Together- in the city of Jerusalem, in which she used to rise the voice of the call to prayer from its minarets, and the Friday sermon was shouted in the alleys of the old town, and the bells of churches rise every Friday morning, this day seemed completely different; From dawn hours, the doors of the Al -Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Resurrection were closed in front of the worshipers and pilgrims, while the streets of the old town were emptied and its markets were closed, this came after the declaration of the state of emergency in the country, following the Iranian strike, to devote the holy places of its pioneers, and Jerusalem turns into a military barrack.
The closed Al -Aqsa scene, and the silent resurrection, brought back to mind the days of the Koruna’s pandemic, when restrictions were imposed on the entry of worshipers and pilgrims, as well as the scenes of the first days of the war on the Gaza Strip, which has continued since October 2023. While silence prevails, the city dwells all its details.
Today, Friday prayers appeared on the thresholds of the Al -Aqsa Mosque and the doors of the old town, after the entire circumference of Al -Aqsa was prevented.
At the gates of the old and Al -Aqsa town, the worshipers spread the land, and raised their hands with supplication, Hajj Mohiuddin Al -Sayyad, 86 years old, he said while dried his sweat under the sun’s rays:
From the Palestinian interior, dozens of speakers tightened the traveler to Al -Aqsa since dawn, but they were surprised to close its doors. One of the worshipers from Beersheba said: “I came with my family for the dawn and back prayer in Al -Aqsa, it was forbidden at the door of the tribes, we stayed in his vicinity until a military force came and removed us, then a second force came and brought us out from inside the walls of the old town … However, I did not leave. He was.”
Sheikh Omar Al -Kiswani, director of the blessed Al -Aqsa Mosque, said in a statement to Ma’an details of what happened since dawn hours, saying:
“Before the Fajr prayer today, Friday, the Islamic Endowment Department received a call from the police, in which we were informed of the announcement of an emergency, and that the worshipers would not be allowed to enter the blessed Al -Aqsa Mosque. Nevertheless, there were about 1,000 worshipers in the squares, and they performed the dawn prayer, before all the doors of Al -Aqsa were closed at six thirty in the morning.”
Sheikh Al -Kiswani added: “Friday and sermon prayer was held with the presence of 150 worshipers from the Islamic Endowment Department employees present inside Al -Aqsa, we will continue to establish all rituals and prayers, who are present in the endowment employees, until the state of emergency is raised.”
It is noteworthy that the occupation authorities, and since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip, have imposed strict restrictions on the entry of worshipers into the Al -Aqsa Mosque, the first months have witnessed strict restrictions and allowing very limited numbers of worshipers to enter, most of them residents of the Old City, to perform prayers in it. The restrictions and prevention continued until last Friday (by randomly preventing young men and women from entering it), before the procedures returned to the current state of emergency, which completely closed Al -Aqsa in front of the worshipers.
