Tens of thousands of Muslims flocked to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan, held under COVID-19 restrictions.
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The restrictions were criticised by Palestinian officials. Ikrima Sabri, who led Friday prayers, accused Israel of "exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to intervene in the affairs of the blessed Aqsa mosque" and the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Israel turned Jerusalem's Old City into a "military base."
Israeli officials said they restricted to 10,000 the number of vaccinated Palestinians entering from the West Bank because of "high morbidity rates" from coronavirus in Palestinian Authority areas.
"The measures are being taken to allow freedom of worship and religion on one hand, and on the other hand, prevent to the extent possible the spread of COVID-19 in the region," said a statement from the Office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Israel's military liaison to the Palestinians.
