Al-Aqsa closed for Eid al-Fitr — police forcefully disperse hundreds of Muslim worshipers outside Old City

Israeli police forcefully dispersed hundreds of Muslim worshipers outside the gates of Jerusalem's Old City on Eid al-Fitr (March 20), as Al-Aqsa Mosque remained closed under wartime security conditions. The holiday, marking the end of Ramadan, typically sees tens of thousands of Muslims pray inside the mosque and in the Temple Mount courtyards — one of the most significant gatherings in the Islamic religious calendar. This year, the closure forced worshipers to pray outside the Old City walls, where Israeli police subsequently dispersed the crowd. Eid al-Fitr falling during an active war that has already seen Iranian missile debris strike the Jewish Quarter 400 meters from Al-Aqsa creates an extraordinarily charged environment. The image of police dispersing Eid worshipers outside a closed Al-Aqsa on the holiest day of the Muslim calendar is highly combustible for diplomatic and humanitarian messaging. The closure and dispersal will be weaponized in Iranian, Hezbollah, and broader Arab information operations claiming that Israel is using the war as cover to restrict Muslim access to Al-Aqsa. It will also increase pressure on Arab states — Jordan (legal custodian of Al-Aqsa), Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey — to speak publicly about the closure. The Jordanian Waqf authority has custodial responsibility for the mosque.