Al-Aqsa Mosque Remains Closed for 40th Day by Occupation Decision

Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, remained shuttered for the 40th consecutive day Wednesday under a closure order imposed by Israeli occupation authorities, marking one of the longest sustained interruptions to Muslim worship at the revered compound in modern history and drawing fresh waves of condemnation from across the Arab and Islamic world.

The ongoing closure of the mosque complex, known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, has barred Palestinian worshippers from accessing the site for prayer, a restriction that Islamic and Palestinian officials describe as a deliberate assault on Muslim religious identity and a brazen violation of internationally recognized protections for holy sites in occupied territories.

The Islamic Waqf authority, which administers the mosque under Jordanian custodianship, has condemned the closure as a grave breach of the agreements governing access to Jerusalem's holy sites, warning that the continued lockout risks irreversible damage to the fragile arrangements that have governed the compound for decades.

Qatar reiterated its unequivocal condemnation of the closure, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling on the United Nations Security Council and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to intervene and compel Israeli authorities to immediately restore Muslim access to the mosque. Doha has consistently maintained that the status of Jerusalem and its holy sites constitutes a red line that the international community must defend without compromise or equivocation.

Jordan, which holds custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem under its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, summoned the Israeli ambassador in Amman and lodged a formal diplomatic protest, warning that the sustained closure threatened to ignite wider regional unrest at an already deeply volatile moment in the conflict.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a strongly worded statement demanding the immediate and unconditional reopening of Al-Aqsa, describing the 40-day closure as a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the norms protecting religious sites in zones of occupation. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other Gulf states added their voices to the mounting chorus of condemnation.

International observers and rights groups have noted that a closure of this duration is without modern precedent at the site. The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process urged the immediate restoration of unrestricted Muslim access to Al-Aqsa, warning that the continued lockout deepens mistrust and forecloses any meaningful path toward a negotiated resolution of the conflict.