Israel shuts Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque for Jewish holidays

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Israeli authorities shut the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron to Palestinian Muslims Wednesday for four days to allow illegal settlers to celebrate two Jewish holidays.

“Israeli occupation authorities closed the mosque on Wednesday to celebrate the Sukkot and Yom Kippur holidays," Director of the Ibrahimi Mosque Moataz Abu Sneineh, told Anadolu.

He said the site, however, will be open to Israeli settlers to perform Talmudic rituals and organize celebrations.

“The mosque will remain closed (to Palestinian worshippers) until Saturday evening,” he added.

Settlers will mark Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, as of Thursday evening.

The Ibrahimi Mosque, located in the old city of Hebron, is under Israeli control, with hundreds of illegal settlers living in the area, guarded by Israeli soldiers.

Since 1994, following a massacre by an illegal settler that resulted in the killing of 29 Palestinian worshipers, Israel has divided the mosque, allocating 63% of the space to Jewish worshipers and 37% to Muslims.

Tensions have been high across the occupied West Bank amid an ongoing Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has claimed nearly 42,000 Palestinian lives, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7 last year.

According to Palestinian sources, at least 745 Palestinians have been killed, and nearly 6,200 injured in the occupied territory during the same period.

The situation continues to escalate following a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice on July 19, which declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara