JERUSALEM: Some 200,000 worshippers attended Friday night prayers at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

200,000 Muslim worshipers attended the Isha and Taraweeh prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan month, known as Laylat al-Qadr, the holiest night of the month, at the mosque compound despite the tightened restrictions and beefed-up military deployments at the holy site gates and across the Old City of Jerusalem.

Earlier today, Israeli occupation forces imposed tightened restrictions on access to the holy site, denying worshippers from the West Bank access to Jerusalem, scrutinizing the identities of young men at the entrances to the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and preventing many of them from entering.

The occupation forces turned back dozens of elderly worshipers at Qalandia and Bethlehem checkpoints, citing their lack of Israeli permits required to access Jerusalem.

The occupation police beefed up their presence in the Old City and the surrounding area, deploying some 3,600 heavily armed
police officers in Jerusalem’s Old City and the surrounding area, and sealed off many roads around the Old City.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA