Around 180,000 Muslim worshippers performed Tarawih prayers at Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem and prepared to observe the 27th night of Ramadan despite Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to the mosque, reports Anadolu Agency.
Laylat al-Qadr is the holiest night in Islam, when the Quran was first revealed. It falls on one of the odd nights in the last 10 days of Ramadan.
The Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem said: “Approximately 180,000 worshippers performed the Isha and Tarawih prayers on the 26th night of the blessed month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque, in preparation for the observance of Laylat al-Qadr.”
Worshippers managed to reach the mosque despite the fact that “the (Israeli) occupation turned the city of Jerusalem into a military zone and imposed tight restrictions on those arriving at Masjid Al-Aqsa to observe Laylat al-Qadr tonight,” according to a statement by the Jerusalem Governorate.
According to the Wadi Hilweh Information Centre, a local human rights group in Jerusalem, “a number of those banned from Al-Aqsa performed the Isha and Tarawih prayers just outside the mosque gates.”
Eyewitnesses said hundreds of buses arrived in Jerusalem from Arab towns and villages inside Israel as part of campaigns to revive Laylat al-Qadr at Al-Aqsa.
Israeli authorities prevented Palestinians from the West Bank under the age of 55 for men and 50 for women from entering Jerusalem.