AL-KHALIL, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Thousands of Palestinians performed the first Friday prayer of the blessed month of Ramadan at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of al-Khalil, in the southern occupied West Bank, under strict Israeli measures that restricted worshippers’ access to the mosque.
Mutaz Abu Sneineh, the director of the Ibrahimi Mosque, told Anadolu news agency that the prayer was held amid heavy restrictions imposed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) since the early morning hours.
He explained that the measures included limiting entry to a single gate, which caused overcrowding and obstructed worshippers’ access, in addition to preventing ambulance crews from reaching the site.
He added that the IOF closed the gate after allowing only a limited number of worshippers inside, leaving hundreds of people outside near the old city market.
This comes in the context of ongoing Israeli escalation in the West Bank, coinciding with the third day of Ramadan in Palestine, in clear disregard for the sanctity of the month for Muslims.
In 1994, the Israeli occupation authorities divided the Ibrahimi Mosque, allocating 63 percent to Jews and 37 percent to Muslims, following a massacre carried out by a Jewish settler that resulted in the killing of 29 Muslim worshippers.
The mosque is fully opened to Muslims only ten days a year, including Fridays in Ramadan, Laylat al-Qadr, the two Eids (al-Fitr and al-Adha), the night of Isra and Mi‘raj, the Prophet’s birthday, and the Islamic New Year.
Since the start of Israel’s campaign of destruction in Gaza on October 7, 2023, which lasted two years, the IOF soldiers have escalated their assaults in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, through killings, arrests, demolitions, displacement, and settlement expansion.
Israeli attacks in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, since October 2023 have resulted in the killing of more than 1,115 Palestinians, the injury of around 11,500 others, and the arrest of nearly 22,000.
