
14-year-old Ahmad Abdel Halim Saadi was killed this afternoon in an Israeli drone strike on the eastern neighborhood of Jenin, according to medical sources.
14-year-old Ahmad Abdel Halim Saadi was killed this afternoon in an Israeli drone strike on the eastern neighborhood of Jenin, according to medical sources.
Despite strict Israeli restrictions, approximately 90,000 Palestinian worshipers gathered for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied East Jerusalem.
“Around 90,000 worshipers attended Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, director-general of the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem, told Anadolu.
Israeli police forces were heavily deployed around the mosque and throughout the Old City of Jerusalem to restrict the entry of worshipers.
On Thursday, Israeli police announced that 3,000 officers would be stationed across East Jerusalem on Friday.
Israeli authorities also imposed severe restrictions on worshipers from the occupied West Bank attempting to reach Jerusalem.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army prevented tens of thousands of Palestinians from crossing military checkpoints surrounding Jerusalem to reach Al-Aqsa.
On Thursday, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced that only men over 55, women over 50, and children under 12 would be allowed to enter the mosque. Worshipers were also required to obtain prior security clearance and undergo extensive checks at designated crossings.
Despite these measures, Palestinians from Jerusalem and Arab towns inside Israel made their way to the mosque. Volunteer groups, including Al-Aqsa guards, scouts, and security teams, assisted worshipers.
During the sermon, Muhammad Salim Muhammad Ali, the Friday preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, praised worshipers for their determination to reach the mosque despite Israeli restrictions and urged further efforts to protect and frequent the holy site.
At the end of the prayers, worshipers held absentee funeral prayers for the souls of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Since the outbreak of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli authorities have imposed strict measures limiting Palestinians’ access from the West Bank to East Jerusalem.
Palestinians consider these restrictions as part of Israel’s broader efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and erase its Arab and Islamic identity according to Anadolu.
Israeli Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has decided to dismiss military spokesperson Daniel Hagari, who later managed to ensure his “forced” retirement from the service, Israel’s public broadcaster reported on Friday.
“The Chief of Staff decided to dismiss the spokesperson of the Israeli army, Daniel Hagari, from his position,” KAN reported.
However, it added that “the army spokesperson agreed with Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir that he would step down from his position in the coming weeks and retire from the Israeli army.”
The decision comes just two days after Zamir assumed his position, replacing former Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, who led Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza for over 15 months before resigning.
The broadcaster noted that Hagari lost the confidence of Defense Minister Israel Katz and is in disagreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, but no further information was provided.
Tensions between the Israeli army and Defense Minister Katz have been escalating since January, particularly after Katz instructed Halevi to fully cooperate with an investigation by the state comptroller into the events of Oct. 7, 2023 according to Anadolu.
In a rare public response, the Israeli military said in a statement that “such matters should be resolved through direct dialogue between the defense minister and the chief of staff, not through the media.”
More than 48,400 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 111,800 have been injured in a brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 2023. The assault, which left the enclave in ruins, was paused under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold on Jan. 19.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.