Israeli soldiers have closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron to Muslim worshippers until Thursday evening, citing “security measures” for illegal Israeli settlers celebrating Jewish holidays.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs condemned the closure, calling on international and human rights institutions to intervene urgently to halt “systematic violations against the mosque” and ensure Muslims’ freedom to access it.
Motasem Abu Sneineh, director of the Ibrahimi Mosque, said the closure was part of “the ongoing escalation and efforts to seize what remains of the mosque.”
He stressed that the Ibrahimi Mosque is “an exclusively Islamic site in all its halls and courtyards,” describing the measures as a “blatant assault on freedom of worship guaranteed by international conventions.”
Alongside the closure, Israeli forces tightened military measures around the mosque and closed checkpoints and electronic gates leading to it, obstructing access for students and teaching staff at the Ibrahimi Basic School for Boys and Al-Fayhaa Basic School for Girls.
The measures completely halted classes at the Ibrahimi school and disrupted education at Al-Fayhaa, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The Ibrahimi Mosque is located in the Old City of Hebron, which is under full Israeli occupation, where around 400 illegal settlers live under the protection of approximately 1,500 Israeli soldiers.
In 1994, Israel divided the mosque, allocating 63 percent to Jewish worship and 37 percent to Muslims, following a massacre carried out by an illegal settler who killed 29 Palestinian worshippers.
