Israel opens door from Gaza to Jerusalem for Ramadan prayers

JERUSALEM //Israel allowed hundreds of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip into Jerusalem for Ramadan prayers on Friday, a week after revoking entry permits in response to the killing of four Israelis.

The 300 Palestinians are believed to be the first from the blockaded enclave to be granted entry to pray since Israel shut the border after Palestinian gunmen killed four people at a Tel Aviv nightspot on June 8.

That closure came during the first week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when tens of thousands of Palestinians visit Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem..

The permits issued for Friday were the regular weekly quota for worshippers at Al-Aqsa, said a spokeswoman for COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry unit which manages civilian affairs for Palestinians in the West Bank and liaises with Gaza.

“Larger numbers were supposed to enter for Ramadan. That has been cancelled,” she said.

Israel imposed a tight air, sea and land blockade on Gaza in 2006, designed to prevent the extremist Hamas movement that controls the territory from rearming.

Around 53,000 Palestinians from the West Bank were also allowed into Jerusalem on Friday to pray at Al-Aqsa, the spokeswoman said.

Thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank had already been allowed to go there last week in an exception to the entry ban, she noted.

The mosque compound, a frequent focal point of Palestinian-Israeli tensions, is revered by both Muslims and Jews, who refer to the site as the Temple Mount.

One of the two gunmen from the Tel Aviv attack has been arrested while the other was shot and underwent surgery.

The Israeli authorities have imposed a news blackout while the investigation continues.

* Agence France-Presse