Israel closes Al-Aqsa for Muslims amid mass settler raids and ‘Flag March’

Israeli forces violently blocked Palestinian Muslims from accessing Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday, as they facilitated large-scale raids by ultranationalists ahead of the “Flag March” through Jerusalem’s Old City. 

The Old City, in occupied East Jerusalem, was placed under near-total lockdown to accommodate the marches and incursions, with Palestinian-owned shops forced to shut and residents ordered indoors.

“Security barriers and restrictions are tighter than ever before,” an employee of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, which administers Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity.

Since dawn prayers, Israeli authorities have imposed strict measures at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.

Israeli forces searched worshippers attempting to reach the site, confiscated ID cards, and barred men under 60 and women under 50 from entering.

Local sources told MEE that worshippers were assaulted, shoved and beaten at several mosque gates.

Shortly after dawn prayers ended, the mosque was largely emptied of Palestinians, except for a small number of Waqf staff.

At least 800 Israelis entered the site during the morning, with further groups expected later in the day.

During the incursions, some participants performed religious rituals and prayers and raised Israeli flags inside the mosque’s yards. 

Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of Islam’s holiest sites and sits on a plateau that Israelis refer to as the Temple Mount, which, in Jewish tradition, is believed to have been the site of the First and Second Temples.

A centuries-old status quo, recognised internationally, designates Al-Aqsa as an exclusively Muslim place of worship under the administration of the Islamic Waqf, which has authority over access, prayer and maintenance.

Israel has increasingly eroded that arrangement by allowing near-daily settler incursions and public Jewish prayers at the site, while sidelining the Waqf’s authority.

Among those taking part in Thursday’s raids were Likud MP Ariel Kallner and Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Israel’s minister for the development of the periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, from Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party.

Friday raids 

The large-scale raids come as Israel marks “Jerusalem Day”, which commemorates the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 and its subsequent “unification” with West Jerusalem, seized by Zionist militia during the 1948 Nakba.

Alongside the incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem Day celebrations include the controversial “Flag March”, which passes through the Old City, including Palestinian-majority neighbourhoods.

The march has frequently been marked by racist and Islamophobic chants, assaults on Palestinian residents, and attacks on Palestinian property.

This year’s Jerusalem Day events begin at sunset on Thursday and end at nightfall on Friday, coinciding with Nakba Day, which commemorates the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist militia during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. 

The overlap also falls on a Friday, when Israeli incursions into Al-Aqsa are typically suspended because of Muslim Friday prayers.

However, several ministers and MPs from Israel’s governing coalition have appealed to the police commissioner to allow Israeli groups to enter the mosque’s yards on Friday.

“It is unacceptable that on the day marking the liberation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, Jews will be completely denied access to the holiest site for the Jewish people,” they wrote in a letter signed by senior ministers, including Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Energy Minister Eli Cohen.

A Jerusalem resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were genuine fears the raids would proceed on Friday, further entrenching Israeli control over the site.

Ir Amim, an Israeli rights group focused on Jerusalem, condemned what it described as growing official backing for the Temple movement among organisers and participants in the Flag March.

The Temple movement includes groups organising daily incursions into Al-Aqsa, which also call openly for the destruction of the mosque and the construction of a Third Temple in its place.

“Against the backdrop of the sweeping government support they now enjoy, Temple activists may in the coming days attempt to forcibly enter the complex, damage Muslim holy sites, or carry out attacks against Palestinians in and around the area,” Ir Amim warned on Wednesday.

“When the police – who are meant to uphold public order – openly declare their support for the Temple movement, there is little left to restrain those groups from acting in such a manner.”