Israel increases restriction on access to Ibrahimi Mosque in Ramadan

Israeli occupation authorities have refused to hand over the administration of the Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied Hebron to the Palestinian Ministry of Endowment during Ramadan as is the custom each year, the Palestinian Information Centre has reported.

Commenting on the measure, member of the Hamas Political Bureau and the head of Hamas Jerusalem office, Harun Nasir Ad-Din, warned that this is part of the Israeli occupation’s plans to take over control of the Muslim holy site.

He stressed that Israel’s continuous and escalating measures are a blatant attack on the Ibrahimi Mosque and constitute a flagrant and dangerous violation of Islamic sanctities.

The Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs announced that Israeli occupation authorities refused to hand over the authority over the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron, including its halls, squares and facilities, to the Endowment Administration, as it has always been done on Fridays of the holy month of Ramadan every year.

The ministry said, in a statement today: “This is a dangerous and unprecedented step, in terms of its timing as it comes in the blessed month of Ramadan as part of Israeli systematic plan to obstruct the opening of the entire mosque for Muslims.”

It pointed out that since the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan, Israeli occupation forces have prevented Palestinians under the age of twenty-five from entering the Ibrahimi Mosque.

READ: Israel to deploy 3,000 additional policemen in East Jerusalem ahead of 1st Friday prayer in Ramadan