Thousands of Palestinians prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque at dawn Thursday, according to Jerusalem’s Islamic Waqf, the Jordanian religious authority that administers the compound.
For the first time in 41 days, Muslim worshippers returned to Al-Aqsa, which had been shuttered since the start of the war sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.
Jerusalem’s police said Wednesday that it would lift restrictions on all holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City starting Thursday morning. It added that hundreds of officers and volunteers would be active in the city.
Access had been prohibited altogether, or restricted to a few dozen faithful, at Christian, Jewish and Muslim sites during the now-paused conflict, when missile attacks from Iran often sent Jerusalem residents into shelters.
The restrictions subdued Lent, Passover and Ramadan celebrations for many in some of the holiest sites for adherents of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
But they’re lifted just in time for Orthodox Christians, who celebrate Easter (Pascha) on Sunday, a week after Catholic and Protestant observances.
Suzan Allam, who came with her husband and daughter, told AFP the return to Al-Aqsa was like "a party.”
Hamza al-Afghani, a young Palestinian, spoke of an "indescribable joy.”
"Al-Aqsa mosque is Jerusalem's soul," another worshipper, who declined to share his name for security reasons, said.
Meanwhile, Israel has approved the establishment of dozens of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an Israeli watchdog group said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has not formally announced the establishment of the 34 new settlements, many of them outposts in far-flung areas of the mountainous territory, the Peace Now watchdog group said in a statement.
The decision, made by the Israeli cabinet on April 1, was reported widely on Thursday by Israeli media outlets, which said Israel's military censor had approved it for publication.
The Palestinian Presidency's office condemned the plan as a "flagrant violation of international law.”
