The Israeli occupation authorities issued a decision today, Wednesday, to ban the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, from the Al-Aqsa Mosque for a period of six months. This decision comes in an escalating context targeting restrictions on the freedom of Palestinian worshippers, especially after the sermon delivered by Sheikh Hussein in which he condemned the starvation policy adopted by the occupation against the people of the Gaza Strip.

The Jerusalem governorate, quoting lawyer Khaldoun Najm, stated that the occupation decided to ban Sheikh Hussein from the Al-Aqsa Mosque after the end of his previous ban, which lasted eight days, and was based on his Friday sermon condemning the practices of the occupation against Palestinians in Gaza. He explained that the new decision comes after the Mufti was summoned on the twenty-seventh of last month, where he was handed a ban decision for a week, subject to renewal.

This measure is considered a serious escalation aimed at restricting the freedom of Palestinians to perform their religious rituals, and comes amid increasing violations and assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque by the occupation forces, which coincide with attempts to impose complete control over the holy city.

Palestinians assert that such measures are part of the occupation's policy aimed at undermining the status of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and an attempt to impose a new reality aimed at changing the Islamic and Arab character of the holy city, in blatant violation of all international laws and agreements that guarantee freedom of worship and the rights of Palestinians in their occupied city.