An unusual stillness settled over Al-Aqsa Mosque on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, as worshippers were prevented from entering the compound under sweeping restrictions imposed across the Old City of Jerusalem. For the first time in decades, the customary prayers and celebratory chants that define the occasion were absent, leaving one of Islam’s most revered sites largely empty in a development that has stirred deep frustration and sorrow.

The measures follow weeks of intensified limitations on movement, including the closure of key access points to the Old City since late February. Officials cited security considerations, yet many view the move as part of a broader pattern restricting access to religious spaces during significant periods. The absence of communal prayer on such an important day has been widely perceived as a profound disruption to longstanding religious practice.

Despite the restrictions, groups of worshippers gathered in surrounding streets and at the gates leading to the compound, carrying out prayers in close proximity to the site. Observers warn that the continuation of such policies, unfolding alongside the ongoing genocidal war, risks entrenching further tensions and raising questions about the future of access and established arrangements at the compound.