Israel: Normally Muslim Access to Al Aksha Mosque during Ramadan · Global Voices

“It will allow the same number of Muslim believers to be accessed to Al Aksha Mosque in Jerusalem during its first week, ” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced. This decision was made by the highest officers of Israel’s security services at the meeting they had in view of preparations for Ramadan. The exact number of believers allowed to enter the mosque was not clarified to pray. “In the first week of Ramadan the same number of believers will be allowed to pass on the Temple Mount as in previous years” refers to the announcement, in which the Hebrew name of Temenian Square is used, as the Arabs call it. ‘Security conditions will be reviewed each week and similar decisions will be taken’, is added to this text. In Ramadan’s period, every year, tens of thousands of believers come to Al Aksha Mosque to pray. Although the guardian of the Temen Square is Jordan, Israel imposes restrictions on access, especially the number and age of the believers allowed to pass. The situation is tense this year, as the Gaza Strip war continues after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7th. Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvere, the head of a far-right party that wants the Square under Jewish control, had asked last month to ban access to the Palestinians of the West Bank during Ramadan. “Hamas celebrations on the Mount of the Temple? Absolute victory” he wrote on platform X shortly after the government announced today. Last week Washington asked Israel “to facilitate access (…) to peaceful believers during Ramadan”, as it did in the past. Earlier today American President Joe Biden warned that the situation would become “very dangerous” especially in Jerusalem, if conflicts in Gaza continue during Ramadan.