Large Crowds for Ramadan Prayers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa

Palestinians attending the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, 24 March 2023. (EPA)
Palestinians attending the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, 24 March 2023. (EPA)
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Large Crowds for Ramadan Prayers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa

Palestinians attending the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, 24 March 2023. (EPA)
Palestinians attending the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, 24 March 2023. (EPA)

Muslim worshippers packed Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa compound for noon prayers on the fourth Friday of the holy month of Ramadan under heightened Israeli police presence.
The prayers ended peacefully amid a year-long escalation of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Israeli police raids at the sacred compound last week triggered rocket attacks from Gaza, southern Lebanon and Syria that drew Israeli air and artillery strikes, Reuters said.

Following the cross-border flare-up, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Tuesday that, as in previous years, visits by non-Muslims to the site, known to Jews as Temple Mount, will be halted until the end of Ramadan, expected around April 20, depending on the moon.

Police said more than 2,000 officers operated in Jerusalem on Friday "to maintain security and order, and to ensure the freedom of worship for all denominations and religions".

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted a photo of him surrounded by Border Police officers as they conducted a security assessment near the compound in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed following a 1967 Middle East war in a move not recognized internationally.

There were differing estimates of the number of worshippers, with the Israeli police putting the number at 130,000, while the Waqf, the Jordanian-appointed Islamic organization that manages the complex, placed the number at 250,000.

"There is no room for compromise on Al-Aqsa or space for negotiations around it and we will not give up one iota of its land," former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Ekrima Sabri said at the Friday sermon, after expressing appreciation for the strong turnout of Muslim worshippers throughout the holy month.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians lined up at military checkpoints in the early morning hours to cross from the Israeli-occupied West Bank into Jerusalem.

Israel claims Jerusalem, including the walled Old City in the east with all its sacred sites, as its eternal and undivided capital. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state in the West Bank and Gaza.

As Muslims flocked to Al-Aqsa, Orthodox Christians held Good Friday processions in the Old City's narrow alleyways and Jewish worshippers prayed at the Western Wall.

Friday also marked the annual "Quds (Jerusalem) Day", when Iran holds rallies in support of Palestinians. Iran backs Palestinian and Lebanese armed groups fighting Israel, which Tehran does not recognize.

Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged in recent months, with frequent military West Bank raids and escalating settler violence amid a spate of Palestinian street attacks.

More than 90 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have been killed since January.



Hamas Expects 'Real Progress' in Cairo Talks to End Gaza War

 Palestinians make their way with belongings as they flee areas in the eastern part of Gaza City, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders, in Gaza City, April 11, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians make their way with belongings as they flee areas in the eastern part of Gaza City, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders, in Gaza City, April 11, 2025. (Reuters)
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Hamas Expects 'Real Progress' in Cairo Talks to End Gaza War

 Palestinians make their way with belongings as they flee areas in the eastern part of Gaza City, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders, in Gaza City, April 11, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians make their way with belongings as they flee areas in the eastern part of Gaza City, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders, in Gaza City, April 11, 2025. (Reuters)

Hamas expects "real progress" towards a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, an official said, as senior leaders from the Palestinian movement hold talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Saturday.

The meeting between Hamas and Egyptian mediators come amid ongoing violence in Gaza, as the Israeli military intercepted three projectiles fired from the territory and launched air strikes and artillery shelling on several areas. No injuries were reported, the military said in a statement.

The scheduled talks in Cairo also come days after US President Donald Trump suggested an agreement to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza was close to being finalized.

A Hamas official told AFP that the Palestinian group anticipated the meeting with Egyptian mediators would yield significant progress.

"We hope the meeting will achieve real progress towards reaching an agreement to end the war, halt the aggression and ensure the full withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza," the official familiar with the ceasefire negotiations told AFP on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The delegation will be led by the group's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, he said.

According to the official, Hamas has not yet received any new ceasefire proposals, despite Israeli media reports suggesting that Israel and Egypt had exchanged draft documents outlining a potential ceasefire and hostage release agreement.

"However, contacts and discussions with mediators are ongoing," he added, accusing Israel of "continuing its aggression" in Gaza.

The Times of Israel reported that Egypt's proposal would involve the release of eight living hostages and eight bodies, in exchange for a truce lasting between 40 and 70 days and a substantial release of Palestinian prisoners.

President Trump said during a cabinet meeting this week that "we're getting close to getting them (hostages in Gaza) back".

Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was also quoted in an Israeli media report as saying "a very serious deal is taking shape, it's a matter of days".

Israel resumed its Gaza strikes on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.

Since then, more than 1,500 people have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory to which Israel cut off aid more than a month ago.

Dozens of these strikes have killed "only women and children," according to a report by UN human rights office.

The report also warned that expanding Israeli evacuation orders were resulting in the "forcible transfer" of people into ever-shrinking areas, raising "real concern as to the future viability of Palestinians as a group in Gaza".

On Saturday, Israel continued with its offensive.

Gaza's civil defense agency reported an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City on Saturday morning.

AFP footage of the aftermath of the strike showed the bodies of four men, wrapped in white shrouds, at a local hospital, while several individuals gathered to offer prayers before the funeral.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its air force intercepted three projectiles that were identified as crossing into Israeli territory from southern Gaza on Saturday.

The ceasefire that ended on March 17 had led to the release of 33 hostages from Gaza -- eight of them deceased -- and the release of around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. It resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Gaza's health ministry said on Friday that at least 1,563 Palestinians had been killed since March 18 when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,933.