For six days now, Al-Aqsa Mosque has stood eerily empty. Not due to pandemic fears or natural disaster, but under the full force of Israeli closure. Worshippers, even residents of Jerusalem’s Old City, have been barred from entering the sacred site, as Israeli authorities cite vague “emergency” measures linked to ongoing regional conflict.

While Muslim prayer is silenced, extremist settlers have been allowed access to perform rituals near the mosque’s walls under army protection. Images of Israeli soldiers and rabbis blowing the shofar at Al-Aqsa’s northern perimeter have sparked outrage among Palestinians, who see it as part of a growing strategy to change the religious and legal fabric of the site.

This is not simply a temporary restriction. According to Jerusalem researcher Ziad Ibhais, this marks an unprecedented closure during wartime,  something even previous uprisings and wars did not see. “What we are witnessing is an open attempt to impose full Israeli sovereignty over Al-Aqsa,  deciding who prays, when, and how,” he warned.

Around the mosque, life has ground to a halt. Israeli forces have sealed off Old City gates, turned neighbourhoods into lockdown zones, and shuttered dozens of shops, suffocating the city's Palestinian economy. Entire areas like Wadi Al-Joz and Issawiya remain under punitive siege following public celebrations of Iranian retaliation.

For many Palestinians, the fate of Al-Aqsa mirrors that of Gaza: siege, isolation, and an international silence that enables it all. The closure of one of Islam’s holiest sites, during a time of mass killing in Gaza, feels less like a security measure and more like a message.

“This is a wake-up call,” says activist Nasser Al-Hadmi. “If Al-Aqsa falls under full Israeli control, what will be left to protect?”