Nearly 35,000 Palestinians perform Tarawih prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - Thousands of Palestinian worshippers performed tarawih prayers Monday at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, despite Israeli restrictions on access to Islam’s third holiest site.

Tarawih prayer is a voluntary prayer that is performed during the fasting month after Isha, the last evening prayer.

According to a statement by the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem cited by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, nearly 35,000 Palestinians performed the prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The agency, however, quoted eyewitnesses as saying that Israeli forces prevented many young men from entering the mosque and beat at least one Palestinian near Bab Al-Zahra, one of the gates leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque, before detaining him.

Asked about Israeli forces blocking hundreds of Palestinians on Sunday wanting to perform the first Tarawih prayer from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said: "We're always very concerned about any provocation in the holy sites in Jerusalem."

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip after a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

At least 420 Palestinians have since been killed and more than 4,600 others injured by Israeli weapons fire, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza, where more than 31,000 people have been killed.