The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs issued its monthly report, which highlights the escalation of Israeli military violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Ibrahimi Mosque, and other places of worship during September.
The ministry stated in its statement that the Israeli military stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque 21 times, and the number of settlers who stormed it reached 4,697. These stormings included the extremist Knesset member Moshe Feiglin performing Talmudic rituals inside it, in a step that represents a clear challenge to the arrangements in place in the mosque since its occupation in 1967.
According to Al-Jazeera, More than 300 Palestinians were arrested and at least 170 wounded as Israeli forces launched incursions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem since April 15. The 14-hectare (35-acre compound) houses al-Qibli Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Israeli authorities said they entered the compound to facilitate incursions by far-right Jews to the holy site.
The Israeli military also continued excavation work south of the Qibli Mosque in the Umayyad Palaces area and built foundations for an escalator between the Al-Sharaf neighborhood and the Buraq Wall to facilitate the settlers’ storming. The ministry confirmed that these activities threaten the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque, which poses a great danger to its stability.
The ministry pointed out the seriousness of the repeated attacks carried out by the Israeli military, which aim to impose a new reality inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, including “temporal and spatial division.” It stressed that the Israeli government sought to support the settlers’ incursions by allocating a budget estimated at two million shekels to finance these incursions.
In the Ibrahimi Mosque, the Israeli military prevented the call to prayer 69 times during September, including 19 consecutive times for the dawn call to prayer, in a clear attempt to end the Islamic character of the mosque. The Israeli military also erected candlesticks and Israeli flags on the roof of the mosque, organized Talmudic prayers inside the occupied part of it, and assaulted the mosque’s muezzin.
The Ministry of Endowments stressed that these attacks constitute a serious challenge to the status of Islamic sanctities, and called on the international community to intervene immediately to stop these violations and protect the right of Muslims to perform their religious rituals in the holy places
