Israel’s seizure of the roof of Hebron’s historic Ibrahimi Mosque on Wednesday has prompted Palestinian officials to call on Unesco to take urgent measures to protect the site.
Ali Abu Zuhri, head of the Palestinian National Committee for Tangible and Intangible Heritage, urged the UN cultural and education agency to intervene “to prevent this grave assault” and safeguard the mosque from “alteration and distortion,” reports Turkish news agency Anadolu.
“The Israeli seizure constitutes a blatant assault on the character of this historic and human site, which is inscribed on Unesco’s World Heritage List,” Zuhri said, accusing Israel of seeking to “Judaize the Ibrahimi Mosque, erase its Islamic and Arab identity, and impose new facts that contradict international law.”
The appeal came after Israel on Monday issued an expropriation order for 288 square meters covering the mosque’s inner courtyard roof. The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said the move was the latest effort to undermine Muslim authority over one of the West Bank’s most sensitive holy sites, said the report.
Palestinian officials also noted that Israel had previously transferred administrative powers over the mosque from the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Hebron’s municipality to a settler-run religious body in nearby Kiryat Arba.
In 2017, Unesco recognized the Ibrahimi Mosque and Hebron’s Old City as a Palestinian World Heritage Site. The mosque—also revered by Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs—lies in a heavily militarized area of Hebron, where about 400 settlers live under the protection of 1,500 Israeli soldiers.
The Ibrahimi Mosque is considered the world’s oldest sacred building still in continuous use. It is believed to house the tombs of Prophet Ibrahim, his wife Sarah, their son Ishaq, and grandson Yaqub.
The site has long been a flashpoint. In 1994, Israel divided the mosque after a settler opened fire inside, killing 29 Palestinian worshippers. Two-thirds of the site was allocated to Jewish worship and the remainder to Muslims, added the report.
Abu Zuhri called on the international community to pressure Israel to halt what he described as “systematic violations against Palestinian and Islamic heritage” and to send a fact-finding mission to investigate.
The seizure comes amid escalating violence in the occupied West Bank since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October 2023. At least 1,022 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 wounded there by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark opinion declaring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and calling for the evacuation of all West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements.
