Israel bars Jerusalem grand mufti from Al-Aqsa for a week
Sheikh Muhammad Hussein was detained after Friday prayers and released with an order barring him from the mosque compound, the Jerusalem Governorate said.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Israeli authorities have barred Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for one week, the Jerusalem Governorate said. The order affects access to one of Islam’s holiest sites in occupied East Jerusalem and may be extended, according to the governorate.
The Jerusalem Governorate said in a Facebook post that Israeli forces detained Hussein after he delivered the Friday sermon at Al-Aqsa. It later said he had been released after being served with the temporary entry ban.
In a message reported by Al Jazeera, the governorate said the detention was carried out so authorities could issue the order barring him from the compound for a week, with the possibility of renewal. The governorate said similar action had been taken against Hussein before.
Quds News Network reported that Hussein was arrested over remarks in his sermon. It said he prayed for mercy for Palestinians killed by Israel and for relief for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Al Jazeera reported that Israel had not commented on Hussein’s detention or the ban. No Israeli explanation for the measure was reported.
Al-Aqsa Mosque sits in Jerusalem’s Old City and is Islam’s third-holiest site. The compound has long been a flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian tensions, and restrictions or police actions there often draw Palestinian condemnation.
Al Jazeera reported that the ban came during a period of increased Israeli measures in occupied Palestinian territory since October 2023, when Israel’s war in Gaza began. The outlet described the war as a genocide.
More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since then, including at least 243 children, Al Jazeera reported. Rights groups cited by the outlet have described a worsening pattern of Israeli military raids, settler attacks and expanding Israeli control.
Al Jazeera also reported that six Palestinians, including children, were injured Friday in an attack by settlers in Huwara, near Nablus. Local sources told the outlet that settlers attacked a Palestinian family on its land, using pepper spray and beatings, and that an elderly man was among those targeted.
Those local sources said Israeli forces were present and protected the settlers during the assault, according to Al Jazeera. They also alleged that Israeli forces later attacked residents and detained three members of the family, including 80-year-old Ibrahim Ismail al-Jabour.
The incidents come as international scrutiny of violence in the occupied West Bank grows. Al Jazeera reported that Amnesty International last month accused the Israeli government of carrying out a state-led campaign of ethnic cleansing in the territory, saying the report rejected the view that the violence was only the work of rogue settlers or far-right ministers.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.