Palestinians converge on Al-Aqsa for Friday prayers

JERUSALEM (AA) - Thousands of Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem converged on Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on the second Friday of the Ramadan fasting month.

Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s Religious Affairs Authority, told Anadolu Agency that as many as 200,000 worshippers had attended Friday prayers at the iconic mosque.

Only men over 45 and children under 13 -- along with women of all ages -- were allowed by the Israeli army to enter East Jerusalem without entry permits.

Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, were banned -- for the second week in a row -- from attending prayers at Al-Aqsa.

The Israeli authorities have stepped up security in and around the flashpoint site, deploying hundreds of policemen and erecting roadblocks at the entrances of Jerusalem's Old City.

They have also deployed helicopters and surveillance blimps to monitor the situation in the mosque compound.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the “unified” capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state -- a move never recognized by the international community.

International law continues to view the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories”.