More than 60,000 perform Friday prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Tens of thousands of worshipers filled the Mosque’s courtyards and covered prayer halls despite Zionist regime’s occupation police forces’ restrictions at the gates of the Old City and the entrances to the holy site.

Palestinians from the 1948 occupied territories also joined the prayer after arriving by buses from Jaljulia and other occupied Palestinian towns.

Calls have continued for Palestinians to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, perform Friday prayers there and maintain a presence in its courtyards, in affirmation of its Islamic identity and rejection of Zionist regime’s attempts to impose control over the site and alter its historical and legal status.

The calls come amid escalating settler incursions into the Mosque and Zionist regime’s efforts to undermine the authority of the Islamic Waqf Department, impose a new reality and Judaize the Aqsa Mosque by stripping it of its Arab and Islamic identity.

Organizers also stressed the importance of mass presence and constant worship at the Mosque, as the first line of defense against Israeli plans to impose temporal and spatial division and full control over Islamic holy sites in occupied Al-Quds.

Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, head of the Higher Islamic Commission and preacher of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said the most effective way to preserve and protect the Mosque is through a permanent presence there and filling it with worshipers.

Sabri urged Palestinians to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and keep it filled with worshipers throughout the week, especially with the arrival of the new Hijri year 1448, while taking part in religious lessons, study circles and acts of worship.

He also called on worshipers not to be deterred by Israeli checkpoints and restrictions, stressing that filling the Al-Aqsa Mosque with worshipers and those stationed there remains the first line of defense against the Israeli attempts to target the holy site and impose new realities in it.