Senior Hamas official Abdul-Rahman Shadeed has denounced the storming and desecration of the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil (Hebron) by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and groups of extremist settlers as “a serious escalation against Islamic holy sites.”

In a statement issued Tuesday, Shadeed condemned the Israeli occupation government’s actions, calling them part of a broader campaign of aggression and Judaization targeting Palestinian religious sites, particularly during Jewish holidays.

“The desecration of Islamic sanctities by Israeli leaders is not isolated,” said Shadeed. “It is a continuation of the war of extermination against the Palestinian people and their sacred places.”

According to local Palestinian sources, Ben Gvir, accompanied by dozens of extremist Jewish settlers, stormed the Ibrahimi Mosque in the heart of the Old City under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, who closed the mosque to Muslim worshippers for the Jewish Passover holiday.

The Israeli military imposed a full closure on the surrounding Palestinian neighborhoods, preventing residents from exiting their homes, opening businesses, or even accessing the mosque. Meanwhile, settlers roamed the streets of the Old City provocatively, escorted by heavily armed Israeli forces.

Shadeed also warned that the Israeli occupation is using religious events to escalate violations, implement further settler expansion, and consolidate control over Islamic and Palestinian heritage sites.

He called on the Palestinian resistance to remain vigilant and to intensify efforts to defend Islamic sanctities, especially in Jerusalem and the West Bank, in the face of increasing Israeli provocations.

The Ibrahimi Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites in Palestine, has long been a flashpoint in al-Khalil, a city where several hundred heavily guarded Israeli settlers live illegally among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The site has been subject to segregated control and heavy Israeli militarization since the 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinian worshippers by settler Baruch Goldstein.

Tuesday’s developments mark yet another flashpoint in the ongoing conflict over access to and control of Islamic and Christian holy sites across the occupied territories. (ILKHA)