Israeli forces, settlers carried out 26 Al-Aqsa incursions, barred Hebron mosque call to prayer 150 times in September: Palestinian ministry

The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs has reported a surge in violations by Israeli forces and settlers at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron during September.

In a detailed report, the ministry said Israeli forces and settlers carried out 26 incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque last month. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities prevented the call to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron 150 times and closed the mosque entirely for six days, citing Jewish holidays, according to the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA).

The ministry added that extremist 'Temple Mount' groups have increasingly called for Al-Aqsa to be opened to settler incursions on Saturdays, aiming to impose new realities and reinforce temporal and spatial division. Settlers also held group prayers and rituals in the Bab al-Rahma cemetery adjacent to the eastern wall, including blowing the shofar over Muslim graves under heavy security.

The ministry noted a rise in Talmudic practices within Al-Aqsa’s courtyards, such as prostration rituals, public prayers, and supplications for Israeli soldiers in front of the Dome of the Rock. Israeli forces continued to impose strict measures, raiding the area around the Qibli prayer hall and the Dome of the Rock during Friday sermons and prayers to restrict worshippers.

The eastern gate of the Ibrahimi Mosque has remained closed and its windows covered since early 2025, coinciding with repeated incursions by Israeli ministers into the mosque.

The violations extended to other mosques as well. Settlers set fire to the Imad al-Din Zanki Mosque in Nablus, scrawled racist graffiti on its walls, stormed the new Madama Mosque and threw gas canisters at worshippers, causing cases of suffocation, and demolished the Al-Da’isat prayer hall in the Al-Jiftlik area of Jericho governorate.