Thousands of illegal Israeli settlers take over Ibrahimi Mosque prayer room

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Thousands of illegal settlers took over the prayer room in Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque and prepared for a concert and the performance of Jewish rituals, while occupation forces continued to ban Muslims from accessing the site.

A video shared on social media showed Israeli occupation soldiers allowing settlers to move some musical instruments into the mosque.

The footage, likely taken by an Israeli settler or soldier, also showed soldiers helping bring some materials inside the worship place.

Mosque Director Moataz Abu Sneineh said that the Israeli settlers held a concert in the mosque’s courtyards “in a blatant violation of the places of worship and the privacy of Muslims.”

“These practices and violations fall within the framework of exchanging roles with the colonists, as the occupation forces allowed them to bring in musical instruments and loudspeakers as part of imposing complete control over the mosque and its surroundings, at a time when Palestinians are not allowed to bring in the necessary supplies for the mosque for maintenance and restoration,” he told the official news agency Wafa.

The mosque was opened to Palestinian worshippers early today, according to Wafa, after being closed to them since the weekend.

In a landmark advisory opinion on 19 July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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