Israel ponders restricting access to one of Islam's holiest sites for Ramadan

Jewish visitors walk protected by Israeli security forces at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, also known as the Temple Mount complex to Jews, in Jerusalem on April 9, 2023, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, also coinciding with the Jewish Passover holiday. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)

TEL AVIV, Israel – The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is always a period of heightened tensions around Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, as hundreds of thousands of worshipers line up to enter one of Islam's holiest sites to pray.

But a proposal for new restrictions on worshipers entering the site — also sacred to Jews as the foundation of their ancient temple — by Israel's far-right national security minister has raised tensions at a time when Israel is waging a war in Gaza that has cost tens of thousands of lives, following an attack by Hamas that was the deadliest since Israel's founding.