Despite restrictions 180,000 Muslims pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque on first Friday of Ramadan

 Around 180,000 Muslims prayed at east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound Friday, the first in the holy month of Ramadan, a body responsible for the site said.  An 50 percent higher than last year, when around 120,000 people attended the first Friday prayers.

Al-Dibs said that the Muslim worshipers were from both the occupied West Bank and from Jerusalem City itself, in addition to worshipers from other Arab countries, including Jordan.

Men over the age of 40 and children under 12 will be allowed to enter the city on Fridays during Ramadan, while there are no restrictions on women, the Israeli army announced.

Azzam al-Khatib, director general of Waqf, said the crowds reached the site “despite checkpoints and a large security presence.” The prayers ended without any major incident, he told AFP.

An AFP photographer at the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank saw thousands of Palestinians — including elderly people in wheelchairs — queueing to enter the city early Friday morning.