Severe restrictions were enforced on worshippers attending prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the first Friday of Ramadan, according to Al Jazeera journalist Nour Odeh. She reported that out of 3.3 million residents in the occupied West Bank, only 10,000 were granted permission to enter. Historically, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have spent time at the site during Ramadan as part of a centuries-old tradition.

Speaking from the Qalandiya checkpoint, Odeh described the limited access as symbolic of broader restrictions, noting that in previous years up to 250,000 worshippers gathered for a single Friday prayer. This year, attendance is expected to be far lower, with entry mainly granted to Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and inside Israel. She also reported that hundreds were being held at the checkpoint, prevented from reaching the mosque.

Odeh said the new restrictions weaken social and religious ties among Palestinians, calling the inability to break fast in Jerusalem another means of separating East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied West Bank.