Palestinians face growing bans from Al-Aqsa as Israel tightens control

What the report says

Palestinians are facing a widening set of access bans and restrictions at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, according to Al Jazeera, which reported on October 29, 2026 that Israeli authorities had again extended an exclusion order against Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, a senior Palestinian preacher and head of the Higher Islamic Council in Jerusalem. The new order keeps him barred from praying at or delivering sermons from the site until April 2027, after repeated restrictions that began in 2024.

The report says Sabri is one of many Palestinians affected by exclusion orders, with the Wadi Hilweh Information Center saying more than 1,000 such orders were issued since the start of 2026, including against religious figures and Islamic Waqf employees. Other worshippers, such as Ibrahim al-Natsheh, also described detentions and bans from East Jerusalem’s Old City and Al-Aqsa area, often without specific charges being stated to them.

Al Jazeera also highlighted what Palestinian and Waqf officials describe as a shrinking role for the Islamic Waqf in managing the compound. They said Israeli police have limited Waqf access, reduced guards, and at times closed the mosque to most worshippers. The article places these tensions against a broader backdrop of recurring disputes over the site’s status quo, which traditionally leaves Muslim religious administration to the Waqf while Israeli authorities control security and entry.