About 10,000 worshipers managed to reach the Al-Aqsa Mosque and attend the Friday congregation. Head of the Gathering of Civil Institutions in Jerusalem Yousef Mekhemar told MENA that the increase in the number of worshipers at the mosque came after calls by all forces in the holy city for Muslims to pray at the mosque and confront Israeli atrocities aimed to desecrate the mosque by allowing extremist Jewish settlers to enter to perform their Talmudic prayers. He also added that a committee to protect the Islamic and Christian holy sites was formed to foil any desecration attempts by extremist Jewish settlers.