RAMALLAH (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s army on Saturday closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil to Muslim worshippers, according to the mosque director.
Sheikh Hefzy Abu Asinina told Anadolu Agency that the Zionist regime’s army only allowed settlers to visit the site to mark the Chayei Sarah occasion.
“The mosque has been closed since 3 p.m. on Friday and will remain closed until 10 p.m. Saturday,” Abu Sneina said.
During Jewish holidays, the Zionist army seals off the mosque to Muslims for up to ten days a year.
Revered by both Muslims and Jews, Ibrahimi Mosque complex is believed to be the burial site of the prophets Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
After the 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinian worshippers inside the mosque by a Zionist settler, Baruch Goldstein, the occupying regime’s authorities divided the mosque complex between Muslims and Zionists.
UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided in July 2017 to include the Ibrahimi Mosque and the old city of Al-Khalil on its World Heritage List.
In another development, Zionist occupation troops on Friday locked up two Palestinian neighborhoods with iron gates in the occupied West Bank, Anadolu Agency reported.
According to Anadolu Agency, the troops closed the iron gate of the neighborhood of Sanjal in the north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, preventing people from entering or leaving the area.
The reporter said that the iron gate had been placed at the neighborhood’s main entrance for years, and the Zionist occupation has used it to impose “collective punishment” against its residents under different pretexts.
He reported that the Zionist troops closed the gate this time over claims that the residents of the neighborhood threw stones at the vehicles of Zionist settlers.