JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities imposed sweeping entry restrictions on Palestinian worshippers on Friday, limiting access from the occupied West Bank into occupied East Jerusalem for prayers at the Al‑Aqsa Mosque.Hundreds of Palestinians gathered before dawn at checkpoints surrounding Jerusalem, hoping to reach the compound for prayers on the first Friday of Ramadan, but many were turned back despite holding previously issued permits, according to local officials and witnesses.But Israeli authorities said on Friday they would allow no more than 10,000 Palestinians from the West Bank into one of Islam’s holiest sites for the day, and only with permits – a fraction of the number who have visited to mark the occasion in previous years.Palestinian authorities said thousands remained stranded at the Qalandiya checkpoint after the quota was reached.Israel’s Channel 12 reported that only about 2,000 Palestinians were able to cross through the Qalandiya checkpoint towards Jerusalem by the morning, amid a state of Israeli military high alert at checkpoints separating the West Bank and East Jerusalem.“There are 3.3 million people in the occupied West Bank … so allowing only 10,000 to pray on this first Friday or Ramadan is a drop in the ocean, and only a trickle have been able to make it in,” Al Jazeera news channel reported from the Qalandiya checkpoint.“In previous years, we’ve seen up to 250,000 worshippers in that holy site, and now only a fraction of that is expected. And it will be from the occupied West Bank, from occupied East Jerusalem itself and Palestinian-Israeli citizens from inside Israel proper.”By late morning, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli authorities were claiming the quota on entry to the compound from the West Bank had already been filled, citing the governorate of Jerusalem, one of the 16 administrative districts of Palestine.Rights groups say Israeli authorities have also increased arrests and expulsion orders in occupied East Jerusalem in recent weeks, while violence, illegal settlement expansion and military raids across the occupied West Bank have surged since the Gaza war started in October 2023.Palestinians view occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, while Israel considers the city its undivided capital — a dispute that continues to make access to its holiest sites a flashpoint each Ramadan.The new restrictions come amid what Palestinian authorities, rights groups and the United Nations say is a dangerous surge of violence by illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, characterised by the widespread use of live ammunition, direct shooting at Palestinian citizens, the burning of local Palestinian homes and land seizures.On Wednesday, a young Palestinian-American man was killed and four other people were injured when a group of Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli forces, opened fire on a West Bank village.The Israeli settlers rampage with impunity, often backed by the military, attacking civilians and their property.According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since 2023, and more than 10,000 people have been forcibly displaced. — Agencies
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