Gazans lament loss of permits to visit Al-Aqsa during Ramadan
Al-Monitor spoke to the members of a group from the Gaza Strip who visited Jerusalem and prayed at Al-Aqsa Mosque on the eve of Ramadan, before the travel permits of hundreds of Gaza residents were suspended following the Tel Aviv attack on June 8.
After the Tel Aviv terror attack June 8, the Israeli military revoked its decision to ease the restrictions on the Palestinians during the month of Ramadan. As per the decision signed by Minister Avigdor Liberman on his first day at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, according to the manager of the Erez border crossing, almost 4,000 Palestinians would be granted travel permits allowing them to exit the Gaza Strip in groups, to visit and pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
When word of the cancellation became public, hundreds of Palestinians gathered near the Office of Civil Affairs in Gaza, demanding that the Palestinian Authority (PA) protest Israel's decision to suspend the permits and thereby taking away an important rite during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
