Sources Anadolu Ajansı
JERUSALEM – Israel will deploy 3,000 additional police personnel in occupied East Jerusalem ahead of the first Friday prayer of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque, the police announced Thursday.
The forces will be stationed across the city, particularly near crossings and in the Old City’s alleys, as tens of thousands of Palestinian worshippers are expected to gather at the mosque.
Since Ramadan began, Israel has imposed entry restrictions on Palestinian worshippers from the occupied West Bank, allowing only East Jerusalem residents and Israeli Arabs to access Al-Aqsa. Palestinians view these restrictions as part of Israel’s broader efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem and diminish its Arab and Islamic identity.
Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, is located in East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and annexed in 1980—a move not recognized internationally.
The International Court of Justice ruled in July last year that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, calling for the removal of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
