Al-Aqsa Foundation for Heritage and Waqf stated, Thursday, according to WAFA, that Israeli authorities have almost completed grid of tunnels underneath Bab al-Mathara, one of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex gates.
In addtion, the Foundation has said that Israel has completed digging tunnels and excavations underneath Bab al-Mathara, also known as the Ablution Gate, connecting them with the other grid which runs underneath the western wall of the mosque.
These excavations, says the Foundation, are carried out in secrecy and under the pretence of ‘archeological excavation’ with funds acquired through the radical settler organization of Ateret Cohanim, and have uncovered large vaulted halls soon to be open to the Israeli public.
‘All the archeological findings date back to various successive Islamic periods, especially the Mamluk period; however, Israeli occupation authorities claim they date back to the Temple era,’ said the Foundation.
Also of note, according to WAFA, is that the grid of tunnels and excavations run underneath the vicinity of the western border of Al-Aqsa mosque, an area known as Hamam al-‘Ayn, less than 50 meters in distance from the mosque, penetrating deep underneath Bab al-Mathara, located within the mosque.
