Israel army storms Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, forbids call to prayer

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Israeli army stormed into the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday and prohibited the Adhan, or the Muslim call to prayer, and evening prayer.

Ghassan al-Rajabi, director of the Waqf Department in Hebron, told Anadolu that soldiers forced Waqf Department employees out of the mosque and prevented them from performing the maghrib, or evening prayer.

He added that the army's incursion seemed to secure the incursion of a senior Israeli official who toured sections of the mosque.

Al-Rajabi noted the mosque remained closed to Palestinian worshippers until ishaa, or night prayers.

After the massacre of 29 Palestinian worshippers in 1994 inside the mosque by Jewish extremist settler, Baruch Goldstein, Israeli authorities divided the mosque complex between Muslim and Jewish worshippers.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided in July 2017 to include the Ibrahimi Mosque and the old city of Hebron on its World Heritage List.

Hebron is home to roughly 160,000 Palestinian Muslims and about 500 Jewish settlers. The latter live in a series of Jewish-only enclaves heavily guarded by Israeli troops

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar