AhlulBayt News Agency: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich led a provocative procession of settlers into the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron on Friday, where participants set Palestinian flags ablaze.
The incident occurred during the early morning hours, as Israeli forces blocked dozens of Palestinian worshippers from entering the mosque compound.
Smotrich, a far-right figure in the Israeli cabinet, addressed a gathering of settlers and religious figures inside the sacred Muslim site.
According to Imad Abu Shamsiyeh, co-founder of Human Rights Defenders in the adjacent Tel Rumeida neighborhood, settlers carried effigies bearing Palestinian, Fatah, and Hamas flags.
The flags were set on fire amid music and celebratory chants, which Abu Shamsiyeh described as a premeditated act of asserting control over the contested site.
“There were clear signs of premeditated Israeli intentions to launch an action against the Ibrahimi Mosque and nearby neighborhoods,” he noted, according to The New Arab.
He further explained that settlers arrived from surrounding settlements, with the procession originating from Kiryat Arba—an illegal Israeli settlement. The group marched through sealed-off areas of Hebron’s Old City, passing through Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street before entering the mosque compound.
Jamal Abu Aram, head of Hebron's Islamic Endowments office, stated that Israeli forces sealed all mosque gates shortly after Muslim worshippers began arriving for dawn prayers.
Security forces also fired stun grenades, forcing worshippers—including mosque director Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh—to pray outside the mosque instead.
Palestinian officials condemned the event, stating that Israeli authorities gave no prior notice, which deviates from usual security coordination protocols.
The timing of the procession raised further concerns, as the event did not coincide with any Jewish religious observance, prompting questions about its intended message and motives.
The Ibrahimi Mosque has remained under Israeli occupation since 1994, following a massacre in which an Israeli settler killed 29 Palestinian worshippers.
Since then, Israeli authorities have divided the site, allocating 63 percent—including the call-to-prayer area—to Jewish settlers, while Muslims have access to only 37 percent of the mosque.
Today, around 400 settlers live in Hebron’s Old City, under the protection of 1,500 Israeli soldiers, a situation that continues to fuel tensions and confrontations.
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