Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered today at the Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayer, braving tight Israeli military restrictions and efforts to suppress their access to the sacred site.

From the early hours of the morning, worshippers streamed through Damascus Gate and the alleyways of the Old City, determined to reach the mosque compound despite Israeli-imposed checkpoints, roadblocks, and harassment.

Israeli occupation forces were deployed heavily across the city, and numerous young men were stopped, questioned, and denied entry under the pretext of identity checks, in what Palestinians describe as a deliberate policy to limit access to the mosque and assert control over the religious life of Jerusalem.

Despite these efforts, the Palestinian presence overwhelmed the obstacles, with thousands more joining in from towns, villages, and refugee camps surrounding Jerusalem. Calls were circulated widely across social media and local networks urging people to defend Al-Aqsa with their presence, especially in light of ongoing settler incursions and systematic attempts to Judaize the area.

Activists and religious leaders stressed that mass turnout at Al-Aqsa remains a crucial form of peaceful resistance in the face of Israel’s policies aimed at isolating the mosque from its Palestinian and Islamic identity.

“This is not just prayer—it’s an act of defiance, a message that Al-Aqsa will not be surrendered or forgotten,” said one worshipper from the West Bank who managed to reach the compound despite checkpoint closures.

The Friday gathering took place amid a broader context of daily Israeli violations against worshippers, ongoing restrictions on Palestinian movement in occupied Jerusalem, and a systematic campaign to undermine Muslim access to the site in favor of settler provocations.

Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, remains a symbol of unity and steadfastness for Palestinians, who continue to defend their right to worship freely in the face of occupation.

Today’s massive turnout once again underscored that despite the siege, Palestinians will not relinquish their religious rights, nor allow Israel’s policies of apartheid and displacement to sever their connection to Jerusalem. (ILKHA)