Israeli occupation forces (IOF) prevented on Monday the workers of the al-Khalil Rehabilitation Committee from resuming the maintenance and restoration work at the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Sheikh Hefzi Abu Sneina the director of the Ibrahimi Mosque said that IOF blocked maintenance and repair works at the Ibrahimi Mosque under the pretext of not having a permit.

He pointed out that working inside the Ibrahimi Mosque is a prerogative of the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs in coordination with the Rehabilitation Committee.

“This is an attempt by the occupation and its settlers to impose their control over the Ibrahimi Mosque” Abu Sneina added.

On Sunday and Thursday last week IOF halted employees of the Rehabilitation Committee from entering the mosque and completing the restoration work under the same pretext.

On Saturday IOF prevented the Al-Aqsa Rehabilitation Committee from carrying out maintenance and restoration work at the Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem.

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) blocked on Sunday morning maintenance and repair works at the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil and attacked hundreds of workers at the Dhahiriya checkpoint south of al-Khalil.

Local sources reported that IOF prevented the workers of the al-Khalil Rehabilitation Committee from completing the maintenance and restoration work at the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The Israeli occupation authority had also halted the call to prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque during December last year 46 times under false pretenses. Also it practiced its arbitrary policy of limiting the number of worshipers in the Ibrahimi Mosque especially on Fridays.

Meanwhile the IOF soldiers attacked hundreds of Palestinian workers at the Dhahiriya military checkpoint south of al-Khalil.

Eyewitnesses said that IOF fired sound bombs and tear gas canisters to block the Palestinian workers from reaching their workplaces in 1948 Occupied Palestine through holes in the Apartheid Wall near the checkpoint.

Several workers suffered breathing difficulty according to the sources.

IOF has been barring workers from accessing their workplaces in 1948 Occupied Palestine for a week now under the pretext of the lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus.

Palestinian workers are required to stay overnight in their workplaces for two weeks. Hundreds of workers are forced to live in very dangerous health conditions in light of harsh weather conditions and the spread of the coronavirus.