TEMPO.CO, Jerusalem – Around 500 elderly Palestinians traveled to Jerusalem on Sunday to pray at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. It is the first time Israel allowed such visits for Palestinians from Gaza since 2007.
“I haven’t been here for 35 years. Everything has changed,” smiled Umm Dallaleh Fayyad, one of the Palestinians, as quoted by Arab News on Sunday. “It’s like being in paradise.”
Hussein Ash-Sheikh, the chief of liaison with Israel on civil affairs, previously said Israel had begun taking steps to remove blockade that had been imposed on the Gaza Strip for eight years.
Ash-Sheikh said one of the steps was allowing 500 people from Gaza to conduct Eid al-Adha prayers.
They crossed the Erez Crossing in the northern end of the Gaza Strip on Sunday. After arriving in Jerusalem, they conducted the Eid al-Adha prayers. They were brought home to the Gaza Strip at night.
ANINGTIAS JATMIKA | ARAB NEWS | XINHUA
