{"id":1137,"date":"2026-02-20T11:55:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2026-02-20T11:55:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:55:48","slug":"israel-tightens-entry-restrictions-to-al-aqsa-on-first-friday-of-ramadan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/israel-tightens-entry-restrictions-to-al-aqsa-on-first-friday-of-ramadan\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel tightens entry restrictions to al-Aqsa on first Friday of Ramadan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">Hundreds turned back at Jerusalem checkpoints despite holding prior permits, officials say <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/haber.aa.com.tr\/#\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/haber.aa.com.tr\/#\"><\/a>Israel tightened restrictions on Friday on Palestinian worshippers seeking to enter occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan, enforcing strict measures and requiring prior security approval for entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hundreds of Palestinians gathered early in the morning at military checkpoints surrounding Jerusalem in an attempt to reach the mosque, but Israeli forces barred many from entering despite some holding previously issued permits, an Anadolu correspondent reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Israeli army deployed large numbers of troops at checkpoints leading into the city, with senior military officers present and a heavy security presence in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThousands of West Bank residents are crowded at the Qalandiya checkpoint, and the occupation authorities are refusing to allow them to enter on the grounds that the permitted number for Friday, set at 10 000 people, has been reached,\u201d the Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said in a brief statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING \ud83d\udea8 Israel HEAVILY restricts access to Palestinians from first Ramadan Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa<br><br>Israel says it will allow only 10,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to enter, a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of worshippers of previous years. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/v1YXT0W29i\">pic.twitter.com\/v1YXT0W29i<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Muslim (@Muslim) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Muslim\/status\/2024813382600159516?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 20, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Israel raised its security alert level in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with the start of Ramadan on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent weeks, Israeli authorities have stepped up arrests and issued expulsion orders in East Jerusalem ahead of Ramadan, a Palestinian rights organization said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, citing international resolutions that do not recognize Israel\u2019s occupation of the city in 1967 or its annexation in 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"ISRAEL TIGHTENS ENTRY RESTRICTIONS TO ALAQSA ON 1ST FRIDAY OF RAMADAN\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MM1xh-nGGMU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Israel\u2019s military and illegal settlers have intensified operations across the West Bank, including Jerusalem, involving killings, home demolitions, displacement of Palestinians, and settlement expansion. &#8211; Anadulo Agency<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><em>Hundreds turned back at Jerusalem checkpoints despite holding prior permits, officials say<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,137],"tags":[14,15,16,23,24,19,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-1137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-conflict-zones","8":"category-editors-picks","9":"tag-gaza","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-palestine","12":"tag-trump","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-war-crimes","15":"tag-zionist"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1137"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1146,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions\/1146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}