RAMALLAH: The Israeli government will close Al-Aqsa Mosque to Jewish groups until the end of Ramadan, bowing to local, regional and international pressure after violent clashes at the flashpoint site.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the government decided to close Al-Aqsa’s courtyards to Jewish settlers from April 22 until the end of Ramadan on May 1 and keep the area open only for Muslim worshippers.
In a bid to stem further violence, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday barred far-right MP Itamar Ben Gvir from entering Muslim areas of Jerusalem’s Old City and holding a rally.
Tensions in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem have spiked in recent weeks, amid nearly a month of deadly violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, with the Jewish Passover festival coinciding with Ramadan.
The ban is intended to prevent further violence in the Old City, including Al-Aqsa, where recent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces left more than 170 injured.
Ben Gvir had announced he would take part in a rally on Wednesday evening, saying he would march through Damascus Gate, the main entrance to the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.
Bennett accepted the recommendation of security chiefs to stop the outspoken MP from entering Damascus Gate.
“I have no intention of allowing petty politics to endanger human lives. I will not allow a political provocation by Ben Gvir to endanger IDF (Israeli army) soldiers and Israeli police officers, and render their already heavy task even heavier,” Bennett said.
In response, Ben-Gvir said: “The security of the coalition government is not the security of the country. The police, under the direction of the left-wing minister of internal security, is trying in every way to prevent Jews from walking in the ‘Israeli capital’ with the Israeli flag. Our response to our enemy is that we will arrive today and we will raise the Israeli flag with pride.”
Bennett, a key figure in Israel’s settlement movement, leads a fragile coalition government.
Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani, director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Arab News that the Islamic Awqaf had asked Israeli authorities to put a stop to visits by extremist Jewish groups from April 16 until Ramadan’s end, but there was no response from the government.
King Abdullah of Jordan led intensive efforts this week to guarantee freedom of worship at Al-Aqsa, especially during Ramadan, and to stop Israeli aggression against worshippers.
More than 1,100 settlers stormed the mosque on Wednesday, sparking violent protests and clashes with Israeli police, who fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters.
With the end of the Jewish holiday approaching, large numbers of radical Jews headed to Maghrabi Gate, trying to enter the mosque, as shown in a video broadcast by Israeli activists.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, a PLO executive committee member, said that the historic status quo gives the Islamic Awqaf responsibility for Al-Aqsa’s management, maintenance, reconstruction and supervision of visitors to its courtyards.
Control of police, as well as determining the number and ages of worshippers, is a flagrant breach of the status quo and an attempt to divide Al-Aqsa between Jews and Muslims, he claimed.
Israeli settlers have organized provocative flag marches in the Old City, and announced plans to pass through Damascus Gate and nearby neighborhoods despite disagreements with Israeli police on the matter.
In an interview with the Israeli Army Radio, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy strongly criticized the Jewish right-wing groups involved in the marches, saying that Jews should not be allowed to raid Al-Aqsa and describing their actions as “behavior that contradicts Jewish law.”
Halevy said that allowing flag marches in the Old City could lead to “bloodshed.”
Mahmoud Al-Habbash, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said that “prayer in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is an exclusive right for Muslims only, and supervision of the mosque affairs is the sole responsibility of Islamic Awqaf, and the occupation and its authorities have no right to interfere with its affairs.”
Al-Habbash called on the international community to end its double standards on Palestine in the face of Israeli aggression, calling for a halt to the “frenzied attacks” on the holy city.
He described Israeli measures against Al-Aqsa Mosque and its worshippers, including determining the ages of those allowed to pray there, as “insolence”, an attack on the religious rights of Muslims and a flagrant violation of international law.
Israel bars Jewish groups from Al-Aqsa until Ramadan end in bid to halt violence
https://arab.news/zyper
Israel bars Jewish groups from Al-Aqsa until Ramadan end in bid to halt violence
- PM Bennett on Wednesday barred far-right MP Itamar Ben Gvir from entering Muslim areas of Jerusalem’s Old City and holding a rally
- The ban is intended to prevent further violence in the Old City, including Al-Aqsa
How Gaza’s shattered fishing industry deepened the enclave’s food security crisis
- Once a pillar of local food security, Gaza’s fishing sector has been reduced to a fraction of its prewar capacity
- UN agencies warn the destruction of boats and ports has deepened aid dependence and worsened protein shortages
DUBAI: Gaza’s fishing industry — once a critical source of food, income and affordable protein — has been largely destroyed as a result of Israel’s war with Hamas, worsening the Palestinian enclave’s food security crisis.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, fishing activity in Gaza now stands at less than 10 percent of prewar levels following the widespread destruction of boats, ports and equipment, combined with prolonged maritime closures enforced under Israel’s naval blockade.
UN and human rights organizations estimate that up to 72 percent of Gaza’s fishing fleet has been damaged or destroyed, alongside near-total devastation of related infrastructure, including landing sites, storage facilities and repair workshops.
The remaining vessels are small, damaged skiffs capable of operating only meters from shore.
Ramzy Baroud, a journalist, author and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, said the destruction of Gaza’s fishing sector must be understood as part of a deliberate policy aimed at preventing Palestinians from developing independent food-producing systems.
Baroud says Israel had pursued a strategy since 1967 to foster Palestinian dependency — first on the Israeli economy, and later on humanitarian aid entering Gaza through Israeli-controlled crossings — leaving the population permanently vulnerable to economic collapse.
“This vulnerability is functional for Israel, as it allows the Israeli government and military to leverage their control over Palestinian lives through political pressure in pursuit of concessions,” he told Arab News.
Palestinians gather near crates of fish for sale during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, at the seaport of Gaza City, November 12, 2025. (REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)
Palestinians were prevented from developing local industry through restrictions on imports and exports, while much of Gaza’s arable land was seized or turned into military targets, he said.
“Likewise, the fishing sector was deliberately crippled through direct attacks on fishermen, including arrests, live fire, confiscation of equipment, and the sinking or destruction of boats,” he added.
FAO has documented widespread destruction across Gaza’s coastal fishing areas.
“In Gaza’s fishing areas now lie broken boats, torn nets, and ruined infrastructure, standing in stark contrast to the once-vibrant industry that supported thousands of fishers for generations,” Beth Bechdol, FAO deputy director-general, said in a statement.
Before the war, more than 4,000 registered fishermen worked along Gaza’s 40-kilometer coastline, supporting tens of thousands of family members and contributing to local food security in an enclave heavily dependent on imports.
Today, the majority have been stripped of their livelihoods, as access to the sea has become sporadic, dangerous, or entirely prohibited.
For decades, fishing off Gaza was restricted to shifting maritime zones — typically between three and 12 nautical miles offshore — often tightened or closed entirely during periods of escalation.
Since October 2023, when the Israel-Hamas conflict began, humanitarian organizations say there have been extended periods of total maritime closure, effectively banning fishing and depriving Gaza’s population of one of its few remaining sources of local food production.
Baroud said the assault on Gaza’s fishing sector was not a by-product of war, but part of a deliberate strategy that intensified during the conflict.
“For Gaza, the sea represents freedom,” he said. “All of Gaza’s other borders are controlled by Israel, either directly or indirectly.”
Israel had consistently worked to deny Palestinians access to the sea, he said. And despite commitments under the Oslo Accords to allow fishing up to 20 nautical miles offshore, those provisions were never honored.
“The assault on Gaza’s fishing sector is therefore not incidental,” Baroud said. “It is about severing Palestinians from one of the few spaces not entirely enclosed by walls, checkpoints, and military control.”
Israel has generally rejected or not accepted accusations that it is unlawfully targeting Gaza’s fishermen, framing incidents at sea as enforcement of security zones or as under investigation rather than deliberate attacks on civilians.
In past lethal incidents at sea highlighted by Human Rights Watch, the Israel Defense Forces have typically said boats “deviated from the designated fishing zone” and that forces fired after warnings were ignored.
According to FAO, rebuilding Gaza’s fishing sector will be impossible without a fundamental change in access and security conditions.
“For Gazans, the sea was not just a source of food, but a source of livelihood and identity,” Bechdol said.
“FAO can assist to help rebuild Gaza’s fishing industry. But for this to happen, peace must first be established and fishers must be allowed to operate their boats and cast their nets without fear of harm.”
Ciro Fiorillo, head of the FAO office for the West Bank and Gaza, said the agency is primed to offer assistance once the security situation improves.
“FAO is ready to restart projects, replenish damaged boats and equipment, and inject emergency funds as soon as these key fishing inputs for production are allowed to enter the Strip, a sustained ceasefire is in place, and access to the sea is restored,” Fiorillo said in a statement.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel triggered the Israeli military assault on Gaza, much of the enclave has been flattened, tens of thousands killed, and some 90 percent of the population displaced.
Even since the ceasefire came into effect with the exchange of hostages and prisoners in October last year, pockets of violence have continued and humanitarian needs remain dire. The collapse of fishing has only compounded an already catastrophic food crisis.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has repeatedly warned that the destruction of food-producing systems — including agriculture, fisheries and markets — has pushed Gaza toward famine, with households facing extreme shortages of protein and calories.
With farmland destroyed, livestock killed and imports severely restricted, fish was once among the few foods that could still be sourced locally.
Its near disappearance has driven prices beyond reach for most families and increased dependence on limited humanitarian aid.
“This is about denying Palestinians access to life itself — to survival,” said Baroud.
The destruction of fishing forces Palestinians into deeper dependence on humanitarian aid that Israel itself controls, effectively weaponizing food rather than allowing Palestinians to sustain themselves independently, he said.
Human rights groups documenting maritime enforcement report that fishermen attempting to operate — even close to the shore — face gunfire, pursuit, detention and arrest, contributing to a climate in which fishing has become a life-threatening activity rather than a livelihood.
According to rights monitors, the destruction of larger vessels has eliminated the possibility of reaching deeper waters, forcing the few remaining fishermen to operate in unsafe, shallow zones with damaged equipment, limited fuel and no protection.
Baroud said international law clearly obligates an occupying power to protect civilian livelihoods and ensure access to food and means of survival.
“The systematic targeting of fishermen — who are civilians engaged in subsistence activity — cannot be justified as a military necessity, especially when it results in starvation and famine,” Baroud said.
He said the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the targeting of livelihoods.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has described the restriction of Gaza’s fishing sector as part of a broader assault on civilian survival systems, warning that the denial of access to the sea has direct implications for nutrition, employment and aid dependency.
Baroud said the recovery of Gaza’s fishing sector could not occur in isolation from the broader economy.
“Only a measure of real freedom for Palestinians — freedom of movement, access to land and sea, and the ability to import, export and produce independently — can allow Gaza’s industries and economy to recover,” he said.
Without ending the system of control governing Palestinian life, Baroud said, any discussion of reconstruction or recovery would remain hollow.
As famine warnings intensify, the fishing sector’s collapse stands as a stark example of how Gaza’s food system has fractured.
What was once a daily livelihood is now reduced to occasional, high-risk attempts to secure food.
With no functioning fleet and no safe access to waters, Gaza’s fishermen are operating at the edge of survival.
