[News] Israeli troops raid West Bank Mosques on first Friday of Ramadan

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Israeli troops raid West Bank Mosques on first Friday of Ramadan

Israeli police also placed heavy restrictions on Palestinians seeking to
enter occupied East Jerusalem for Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's
third-holiest site

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

MAR 7, 2025 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-troops-raid-west-bank-mosques-on-first-friday-of-ramadan
(Photo credit: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/Zuma Press)

The Israeli forces raided several mosques in the occupied West Bank city of
Nablus on 7 March while imposing restrictions on Palestinians seeking to
pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, WAFA news agency reported
<https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/03/07/744063/Israeli-regime-mosques-West-Bank-Nablus-Ramadan>
.

Israeli forces raided six mosques in the Old City of Nablus at dawn on
Friday – the first Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan – while
preventing the morning prayer from being held and detaining three
Palestinians during their incursion into the city.

Israeli troops fired live ammunition, stun grenades, and tear gas canisters
while storming multiple neighborhoods in the city, local sources told the
official Palestinian news agency.

“During the incursion, the occupation forces stormed and searched several
mosques, including Al-Satoon Mosque, Ajaj Mosque, the Great Salah al-Din
Mosque, Al-Tina Mosque, Al-Nasr Mosque, and Al-Beik Mosque,” WAFA said.
“These mosques, all located in the Old City, were ransacked during the
raids.”

Israeli forces also imposed strict restrictions on the entry of Palestinian
Muslims traveling from the occupied West Bank to occupied East Jerusalem
for Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, WAFA reported
<https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/155335>.

Palestinian men under the age of 55 were banned from passing through the
Qalandia checkpoint, while women under the age of 50 were also banned from
crossing, despite having special permits to enter Jerusalem.

Eyewitnesses told WAFA that thousands of worshippers were not allowed to
pass Qalandia under the pretext of not having the necessary permits.

Israeli security forces also imposed restrictions on the entry of
Palestinian worshipers who are residents of occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli forces checked the identities of young men at the entrances to the
Old City and the doors of the mosque and prevented a number of them from
entering, WAFA added.

Despite the restrictions, some 90,000 Palestinians reached Al-Aqsa Mosque,
the third holiest site in Islam, for Friday prayers, *The New Arab* reported
<https://www.newarab.com/news/thousands-pray-al-aqsa-despite-israeli-ramadan-restrictions>
.

The Muslim holy month comes this year amid a fragile ceasefire between
Israel and Hamas in Gaza and an ongoing Israeli military campaign in the
occupied West Bank that has forcibly expelled tens of thousands from their
homes in the Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarem refugee camps.

Senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Council member
Ahmed Majdalani warned
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-confidant-if-trump-advances-gaza-expulsion-plan-pa-will-cut-ties-with-us/>
against the US and Israel’s ongoing attempts to forcibly expel Gaza’s 2.3
million Palestinians from the strip and to annex the West Bank.

“If [US President Donald Trump] thinks that there will be regional peace
with Israeli normalization alongside the mass expulsion of Gaza’s residents
and the annexation of the West Bank, he is wrong,” Majdalani told
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-confidant-if-trump-advances-gaza-expulsion-plan-pa-will-cut-ties-with-us/>
the *Times of Israel* on Friday.

Majdalani threatened to cut ties with the US if Israel moves ahead with
plans to expel Palestinians from Gaza with support from the president.

“Why would we have ties if Mr. Trump sticks to this proposal?” he said.
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