HEBRON, Thursday, May 28, 2020 – The Israeli authorities today prevented the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) from continuing restoration works in the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the occupied southern West Bank city of Hebron, said a local official.
Director of the Ibrahimi Mosque, Sheikh Hafthi Abu Sneineh, said that Israeli forces prevented HRC employees from continuing with the restoration work in the mosque under the pretext they do not have a permit to do so.
He said that work in the mosque falls within the authority of the Palestinian Ministry of Waqf and through coordination with the HRC, explaining that Israel’s decision comes within its attempt to impose its control over the Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as Cave of the Patriarchs.
The Israeli army prevented on Tuesday Muslim worshippers from holding prayers inside the mosque after it was reopened for worship with the easing of the coronavirus lockdown measures imposed since early March.
Israel‘s former Minister of Defense, Naftali Bennett, approved earlier this month government takeover of parts of the Ibrahimi Mosque under the pretext of opening an access road and elevator for Jewish settlers seeking to reach the mosque.