As the number of Palestinians starved to death in Gaza rises to near 200, Israel has banned the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months.
Occupying Israeli authorities issued the lengthy ban as an extension of an existing ban on Shaykh Muhammad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territory, from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque after the cleric slammed Israel for starving Gaza during a jumuah khutbah.
Wafa news agency quoted lawyer Khaldoun Najm as saying: “The occupation’s decision to ban the Mufti from Al-Aqsa reflects a serious escalation in the attempt to restrict the freedom of Muslims to perform their religious rituals.”
Earlier, Hussein was handed an initial eight-day expulsion order from the Holy Mosque but occupying Israeli authorities have announced the extension following an investigation.
The Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem confirmed that Shaykh Hussein was arrested in the mosque’s courtyard shortly after delivering the weekly Friday sermon, which also condemned ongoing Israeli crimes against Palestinians from Rafah in southern Gaza to Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank.
This is not the first time Al-Aqsa’s religious leadership has been detained by Israeli authorities.
Another imam at the mosque, Shaikh Muhammad Salim, was arrested in April after referring to the genocide in Gaza in his sermon. He was banned from the mosque for a week.
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Israeli police have also repeatedly interrogated and banned Shaykh Ikrima Sabri, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, from Al-Aqsa for extended periods over the years.
Restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa have been in place since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, with tighter controls usually imposed on Fridays.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army and illegal settlers have escalated their attacks in the occupied West Bank against Palestinians, their holy sites, and property, including in East Jerusalem, killing over 1,000 Palestinians and injuring over 7,000 in the last 22 months.
Masjid Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third-holiest site, but fears across the Muslim-majority world are running high amid concern that extremist Israeli Zionists, who call the area the “Temple Mount”, seek to demolish the holy site and build a Jewish temple.
Starving Gaza
At least 61,158 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, including 193 who have died from hunger, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
A ministry statement said that 138 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, while 771 people were injured, taking the number of injuries to 151,442 in the Israeli onslaught.
The ministry also said that five more people died from starvation and malnutrition over the past day, pushing the death toll since October 2023 to 193, including 96 children.
It also noted that 87 Palestinians were killed and 570 injured while trying to get humanitarian aid in the past day, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed while seeking aid to 1,655, with over 11,800 others wounded since May 27.
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza for 18 years and since March 2, has shut down all crossings, blocking the entry of humanitarian aid for the territory’s 2.4 million population.
According to Palestinian media, Israel had allowed in just 843 aid trucks since July 27, far short of the 6,000 trucks required to meet the daily needs of residents over 10 days.
The occupying Israeli army resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip on March 18 and has since killed 9,754 people and injured 39,401 others, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
Full occupation pending?
An Israeli security cabinet meeting, which had been expected to discuss Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the “full occupation” of Gaza, has been postponed amid mounting tensions over whether the plan is feasible.
Amid a stalling of ceasefire negotiations with the armed Palestinian group Hamas, Israeli officials had briefed local and international media that the prime minister was considering an expansive offensive, aimed at taking full control of the Palestinian territory after 22 months of genocide.
However, senior Israeli military officers and former senior commanders warned the plan would endanger the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages, risk further international isolation, and require Israeli soldiers to administer a population which still resists.
Amid reports that Netanyahu’s plan was backed by the American leadership, U.S. President Donald Trump declined to take a position on whether the United States would support a full Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, while emphasising ongoing American-led humanitarian efforts in the enclave.
“As far as the rest of it, I really can’t say. That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel,” Trump told reporters Tuesday when asked whether he would support Israel reoccupying all of Gaza.
