This evening, Friday, the Israeli police arrested the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh  Ekrema Sabri, from inside his home in the Al-Sawana neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem.

This came after the Israeli Public Prosecution decided to open an investigation with Sheikh Sabri on charges of incitement.

Sheikh Sabri was arrested after he mourned the death of the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians performed the funeral prayer in absentia for the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on Friday at Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.

Sheikh Sabri, the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, said in his Friday sermon: “The residents of Jerusalem and those on the pulpit of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque mourn the martyr Ismail Haniyeh with God, and we ask God Almighty to have mercy on him.” The worshipers chanted, “God is Great and praise be to God,” according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

Sheikh Sabri announced that “the funeral prayer in absentia for the martyr Haniyeh will be held” after Friday prayers.

Following that, extremist Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that the occupation police "ordered an investigation to be opened against Sheikh Ekrima Sabri after he mourned Ismail Haniyeh in his Friday sermon at Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Hebrew press sources reported that the occupation's Minister of Interior asked the government's legal advisor to withdraw Sheikh Sabri's identity and cancel his residency in Jerusalem.

The Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem estimated that about 30,000 worshipers were able to perform Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, despite the occupation’s measures.

The occupation police deployed their checkpoints on the roads leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque, and their elements were stationed at the gates of the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and they stopped young men and subjected them to searches, and prevented a number of them from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Those who were banned from Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevented from reaching it performed Friday prayers on Al-Mujahideen Road between Bab Al-Asbat and Bab Hatta, while the occupation forces detained a number of young men on the streets of the Old City and interrogated them on the ground.