Israel Closes Al-Aqsa Mosque, Prevents Worship, Damages Jerusalem’s Old City Businesses

Maher Abu Tiir, writing from Amman, Jordan, said closing the Al-Aqsa Mosque for more than 30 days during Ramadan and the Eid period is being treated as “ordinary news,” while “the martyrs in Gaza are tallied.”

“Jerusalem's holy sites will remain closed this weekend for security reasons, announced on Thursday by an Israeli police spokesperson on the sixth day of the regional war triggered by the American-Israeli attack on Iran”

The Times of Israël

He argued that Israel “closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, prevented worship there, Tarawih prayers, and Eid prayers,” and said it also “caused destruction of the Old City.”

Wakala Oman Jo Al-Akhbariyah

Abu Tiir described the Old City as “home to tens of thousands of Palestinians” and said thousands of commercial establishments were “all harmed by the closures.”

He added that the closures and prevention of reaching the mosque and Old City amount to “an economic and social slaughter of the social neighborhood surrounding the Mosque.”

A Times of Israël report said Jerusalem's holy sites will remain closed this weekend for security reasons, announced on Thursday by an Israeli police spokesperson on the sixth day of the regional war.

The Israeli police spokesperson warned in a press statement: "In order to safeguard public safety and human life, all holy sites in the Old City, including the Western Wall, the Esplanade of the Mosques, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, will remain closed," and added that "Entrance will not be allowed to any worshiper or visitor, regardless of their faith."

Wakala Oman Jo Al-Akhbariyah

The report said the closure comes during Ramadan, when “tens of thousands of Palestinian Muslims normally come each Friday to pray on the Esplanade of the Mosques for the noon prayer.”

It also stated that since the outbreak of the war against Iran, Israeli authorities have barred access to the Old City for security reasons, except for residents or shop owners established inside the Ottoman walls delimiting the district.

WAFA reported that Israeli occupation authorities forced shop owners in Jerusalem’s Old City to close their businesses on Thursday, after informing merchants that they must close by 12:00 p.m.

“Al-Aqsa Mosque is not a stone relic Amman, Jordan — Maher Abu Tiir The Al-Aqsa Mosque is not detached from its social surroundings, which are undergoing ongoing economic destruction, especially in the Old City of Jerusalem”

Wakala Oman Jo Al-Akhbariyah

WAFA said the closures and restrictions coincide with the so-called "Flag March," and it framed the action as part of Israeli authorities’ measures in the Old City and its surrounding areas.

In the same period, Abu Tiir argued that Israel is testing “the Arab and Islamic reaction at the official and popular levels,” and said it has discovered it is possible to close the Haram al-Sharif for days and weeks without reaction.

He warned that the “ceiling is open to explosions in tunnels under the Al-Aqsa, or to a guided missile blamed on any party for having strayed, or to formal demolition, or to imposing full Israeli sovereignty over it.”