Al-Khalil, MINA – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the courtyard of the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil on Wednesday, reinforcing their military presence in and around the Old City, Palestine Information Center reported.
The move comes ahead of a large-scale settler incursion planned for Thursday, reportedly in observance of upcoming Jewish holidays.
Local sources reported that the IOF installed additional military checkpoints and electronic gates at the entrances leading to the Mosque. Several markets in the Old City were also closed as part of the security measures to secure the area for settler activities.
This escalation falls within the Israeli policy of spatial and temporal division of the Ibrahimi Mosque, where approximately 36% of the site has been seized. The Mosque is also closed to Muslim worshipers for ten days annually under the pretext of Jewish holidays, effectively denying Palestinians the right to perform religious rituals.
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The occupation regularly uses Jewish religious occasions as a pretext to impose harsh restrictions on Palestinians. These include tightening military measures, closing checkpoints, restricting movement, and preventing access to Islamic holy sites.
Simultaneously, the IOF continues to support and facilitate settler incursions into Palestinian cities and religious sites across the West Bank, including repeated incursions at the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil and the Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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