Tens of thousands of worshipers performed Friday prayers at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, while the occupation forces continued to impose restrictions and prevent young men from entering Al-Aqsa. The Islamic Endowments Department estimated the number of worshipers at 40,000. The occupation forces were stationed at the gates of Al-Aqsa in particular and at the gates of the Old City, and they stopped those coming to Al-Aqsa, especially young men, and checked their IDs and subjected many of them to searches and hanging on the walls, and prevented them from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque. One of the young men said: 'Entering Al-Aqsa depends on the mood of the police or officers who stand at the iron barriers placed at the gates of the mosque. They control our entry into our mosque. This has been the case for several months now: restrictions, harassment and obstacles, in an attempt to prevent us from entering the mosque. But we try through all doors, and we are prepared to walk long distances to try to enter Al-Aqsa. W e do not care about the procedures, attacks or weather. If we are prevented from praying on its thresholds, we will not leave Al-Aqsa.' The forces also removed the young men who were prevented from entering Al-Aqsa outside the Old City, and assaulted some of them by pushing them to prevent them from praying on the steps of the mosque. Those who were deported from Al-Aqsa performed prayers on the steps of the Old City and at the closest point they could reach it. In his Friday sermon, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, condemned the raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the violations committed by the police in the mosque. He said that the raids on Al-Aqsa, the last of which was by a minister in the occupation government, will not change anything in reality, as Al-Aqsa is an Islamic mosque by divine decree. Source: Maan News Agency