Israeli restrictions on Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque are intensifying, with Sheikh Ekrima Sabri barred from the holy site until April 2027 and more than 1,000 exclusion orders reportedly issued against Palestinians in Jerusalem this year.
Sabri, head of the Higher Islamic Council in Jerusalem, has been repeatedly prevented from praying and delivering sermons at the compound in occupied East Jerusalem since August 2024.
The latest order, issued on October 20, is the fifth against the prominent Palestinian preacher and extends his exclusion until April next year. Israeli police detained him in August 2024 after a sermon in which he mourned Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader assassinated by Israel.
Sabri said the order was intended to silence those speaking out about Al-Aqsa, describing it as “unjust, illegal, inhumane and uncivilised”.
“These measures are aimed at diminishing the Palestinian presence at the mosque, while simultaneously allowing settlers to carry out incursions in large numbers,” he said. “Such actions represent an aggressive policy targeting the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Islamic presence within it.”
Far-right Jewish religious activists have increasingly been allowed to pray at the site under Israeli police protection, despite the longstanding status quo and opposition from ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious authorities.
Sabri said he would continue defending Al-Aqsa, which he described as an integral part of his Islamic faith, despite the restrictions.
Palestinians report growing exclusion orders
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a Palestinian human rights monitoring group, said Israeli authorities had issued more than 1,000 orders excluding Palestinians from Al-Aqsa and the Old City since the beginning of 2026.
The orders have affected religious figures and employees of the Islamic Waqf, the body responsible for managing Muslim religious affairs at the compound. The centre reported a rise in exclusions before Jewish holidays, recording more than 40 orders over five days in early September.
Ibrahim al-Natsheh, a Palestinian worshipper, said he was detained for a week after being arrested while attending funeral prayers for his cousin at Al-Aqsa earlier this month.
After his release, he said police took him to a room at the station and handed him a six-month order barring him from the Old City. He said no specific charge was brought against him.
The order warned that entering the prohibited area could lead to arrest and further penalties, including a fine or imprisonment, according to al-Natsheh.
He said he had received so many exclusion orders over the years that he had lost count. The restrictions began about nine years ago, he said, after an Israeli crackdown on Islamic study circles at the mosque, with students, teachers and activists facing arrests and bans.
“The orders banning us from the mosque provide no specific reason; they simply cite ‘disturbing the peace’, even though we are there solely to pray,” al-Natsheh said.
He alleged that police had also prevented him from entering Al-Aqsa when no formal exclusion order was in place, and had repeatedly arrested him at the mosque gates and severely beaten him in detention.
“The path to the mosque has become incredibly difficult; it is swarming with soldiers and settlers,” he said. “We are denied the ability to reach it with any ease, and if we try, we face arrest and beatings with batons. It is deeply painful to witness what is happening to Al-Aqsa now.”
Waqf authority ‘diminishing’
Palestinian officials say restrictions on Muslim worshippers have expanded alongside a greater Israeli settler presence at the compound during 2026.
Al-Aqsa was closed to most worshippers for 40 days after the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28. The site reopened on April 9, without the Islamic Waqf being consulted or given prior notice, according to Ma’rouf al-Rifai, an adviser to the Jerusalem Governorate.
Almost 28,000 visits by Israeli settlers to Al-Aqsa were recorded between July and September, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate.
Al-Rifai said access restrictions had been tightened during recent Jewish holidays, including temporary closures of the mosque, the prevention of noon prayers on at least one occasion and limits on Old City residents entering during visits by Israeli settlers and Jewish religious activists.
He said Israeli police had prevented Waqf officials from accompanying Jewish groups inside the compound, reduced the authority of mosque guards and arrested or barred several employees.
Fewer than 15 guards are now on duty during the morning shift, compared with about 50 previously, al-Rifai said.
He also said the Waqf had been prevented from carrying out restoration work at the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall and from maintaining trees and gardens within the compound. The committee responsible for restoration work had been unable to perform its duties for years, he added.
Under longstanding arrangements, the Waqf manages Muslim religious affairs at Al-Aqsa while Israeli police oversee security and access. Al-Rifai said those arrangements had been increasingly undermined.
“Settler incursions have undergone a shift over the past three years; they now include Jewish prayers and religious rituals, the raising of Israeli flags, and attempts to bring in sacrificial offerings,” he said.
Al-Rifai warned that proposals to allow Jewish visitors into the compound on Saturdays, plans by Israeli politicians to divide access to parts of the site between Muslims and Jews, and a police recruitment drive to escort Israeli incursions could further alter worship and access arrangements.
Israeli authorities had not responded to requests for comment on the allegations.
