On Saturday morning, the Israeli occupation authorities closed all the gates of the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, in a move widely viewed as a fresh escalation against Palestinians’ religious rights. The closure coincided with the launch of military attacks by the occupation and its American ally on Iran under the name “Judah’s Shield”.
An official at the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the occupation authorities had sealed all entrances to Al Aqsa Mosque, depriving thousands of worshippers of their right to perform their religious rituals freely.
In the same context, the occupation also closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Hebron, ordering Muslim staff to leave the premises and suspending prayers there until further notice, allegedly in connection with the assault on Iran.
This closure forms part of a series of ongoing measures imposed by the occupation on religious sites across the occupied West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem. These measures encompass restrictions on prayer, demolitions, arrests, forced displacement, and settlement expansion, undermining Palestinians’ religious and civil rights.
Through such actions, the occupation violates fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, which prohibit an occupying power from altering the legal or religious status of holy sites or obstructing the civilian population’s exercise of basic rights.
The closure of Al Aqsa Mosque and the Ibrahimi Mosque, particularly during prayer times and significant religious occasions, constitutes a clear breach of international human rights conventions, including the right to freedom of religion and belief.
These measures are also regarded as part of a sustained pattern of discriminatory policies enforced by the occupation. Since the beginning of the assault on Gaza on 8 October 2023, more than 1,117 Palestinians have been killed, approximately 11,500 injured, and nearly 22,000 arrested in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.
Such violations amount to a grave breach of international conventions prohibiting collective punishment against civilians, including the Geneva Conventions concerning the protection of civilians in occupied territories.
It is worth noting that the occupation permits Muslims full access to the Ibrahimi Mosque on only ten days each year, including the Fridays of Ramadan, Laylat al Qadr, Eid al Fitr, Eid al Adha, the Night Journey and Ascension, the Prophet’s Birthday, and the Islamic New Year, in a clear violation of the principle of equality in access to places of worship.
