About 22,000 Israeli settlers have flocked to al-Khalil city in the occupied West Bank to visit the Ibrahimi Mosque compound to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover, Hebrew media sources said on Tuesday.
Israel’s TV channel Seven reported that over 22,000 settlers broke into the Ibrahimi Mosque in successive groups and performed Talmudic rituals under the guard of the Israeli occupation forces.
The Israeli occupation forces on Monday announced a two-day closure on the Ibrahimi Mosque to make way for settler celebrations.
Local residents said that the Israeli forces sealed off the Old City of al-Khalil banning Muslim worshipers from entering the Mosque.
The Ibrahimi Mosque is located in the Israeli-controlled Old City where 400 Israeli settlers live guarded by nearly 1,500 soldiers.
On 25 February 1994, a Jewish settler opened fire on Muslim worshipers at the mosque killing 29 Palestinians. A following agreement split the Ibrahimi Mosque into areas of Palestinian and Israeli control: 45% for the former and 55% for the latter.