Ramallah: The Palestinian Ministry of Religious and Endowments Affairs revealed that Israeli occupation forces and settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem 27 times during December, while preventing the call to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron on 92 occasions.
In a report issued on Sunday, the ministry said that occupation forces and settlers escalated their attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque, with the number of incursions reaching 27.
This coincided with dozens of settlers entering the mosque on the first day of Hanukkah, amid calls for daily incursions throughout the holiday week and attempts to perform candlelighting rituals inside the mosque's courtyards under the protection of occupation forces.
The ministry warned of the grave danger of these repeated violations, describing them as part of a clear policy aimed at normalizing Jewish religious presence and worship inside the mosque through the performance of Talmudic prayers, thereby entrenching a temporal and spatial division within the holy site.
It called on the Palestinian people to travel to and remain steadfast at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Ibrahimi Mosque, stressing that presence at both sites constitutes a form of protection against the occupation's practices.
The occupation authorities bar thousands of Palestinians from West Bank governorates from accessing Jerusalem to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque, requiring special permits to cross the military checkpoints surrounding the city.
