The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs reported that the Israeli occupation authorities refused to hand over the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron, with all its halls, courtyards and facilities, to the Endowments Administration, as is customary on Fridays during the month of Ramadan every year.

The ministry said in a statement issued on Friday that this is a dangerous and unprecedented step, in its size and timing during the holy month of Ramadan, as part of a systematic plan to obstruct the opening of the Grand Mosque, with all its halls and courtyards, completely to Muslims.

The ministry added that on Friday night of Ramadan, the ceremony of receiving the Ibrahimi Mosque begins by the director and custodians of the Ibrahimi Mosque, in preparation for its full opening to worshippers. These Fridays in Ramadan are among the ten days in which the mosque is fully open to Muslim worshippers. However, the Waqf employees were surprised by the occupation’s failure to open the eastern gate area, which is the women’s prayer area during Friday prayers. This step represents a dangerous and surprising precedent that will necessarily lead, if approved, to the establishment of this new reality in preventing the opening of new sites each time in preparation for taking full control of the Ibrahimi Mosque, as a member of the Knesset threatened a short while ago.

She pointed out that this new and ongoing violation comes to satisfy the desire of the settlers who reject the procedures for opening the sanctuary completely to Muslim worshippers, and comes within their desire to control the sanctuary completely and transform it into a synagogue in which they perform their Talmudic rituals, noting that the occupation has prevented those under the age of twenty-five from entering the Ibrahimi Mosque since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

The Ministry of Endowments confirmed its rejection of the occupation’s measures to obstruct the opening and complete handover of the sanctuary during the agreed upon days, and its refusal to receive the sanctuary within these measures that violate our rights within it, calling on UNESCO, which has placed the Ibrahimi Mosque on its list of world heritage sites, to work to stop this occupation from its attacks and violations of the sanctuary.