JERUSALEM: Jerusalem woke up to the rare experience of seeing its holy sites covered in snow on Thursday (Feb 18), with the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall under a layer of white after an overnight snowstorm.
Before dawn, children were up hurling snowballs at each other outside the Old City gates, as the faithful trudged to sites holy to Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
The snowstorm began on Wednesday evening, leading the authorities to shut down public transportation and block the main road to Jerusalem.
But as it eased overnight, the municipality said it would resume services, and people even drove to see the spectacle.
“We came in from Tel Aviv to play in the snow,” said Ben Miller. “It’s a rare occasion that we get snow in Jerusalem. The last time, I think, was 2013.”
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walks into Jerusalem’s Old City via Damascus Gate during a snowy day on Feb 18, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad)
Snow covers the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem on Thursday, Feb 18, 2021. (Photo: AP/Oded Balilty)
Roofs of Jerusalem’s Old City are covered with snow during a snowy morning on Feb 18, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. (Photo: Reuters/Ilan Rosenberg)
Jews pray at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City on a snowy morning in the city on Feb 18, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Ronen Zvulun)
Fog envelops shoppers at the Mahane Yehuda market after snow fell overnight in Jerusalem on Thursday, Feb 18, 2021. (Photo: AP/Maya Alleruzzo)
People walk their dogs next to a snowman decorated with a face mask in a snow-covered park in Jerusalem on Thursday, Feb 18, 2021. (Photo: AP/Oded Balilty)
Snow is seen over Jerusalem and on the Dome of the Rock, located on the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount on Feb 18, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/ Ronen Zvulun)
A child prepares to place a cucumber as a nose on a snowman at Sacher Park in Jerusalem on Thursday, Feb 18, 2021. Jerusalem woke up under a blanket of a few inches of snow that fell overnight. (Photo: AP/Maya Alleruzzo)
