The Ibrahimi Mosque, one of the most ancient and revered holy sites in Islam, has had its municipal governorship taken over by the Israeli military, in direct violation of international law. This is the site of the Hebron massacre in 1994, when 29 Muslim worshipers were gunned down by the American-Israeli extremist Dr. Baruch Goldstein.
After his rampage, to add insult to injury, Israeli forces took over half the mosque to turn it into a synagogue. Extremist Israeli paramilitary settlers in the Hebron area celebrate the anniversary of the massacre each year, with some dressing themselves or their children as Baruch Goldstein. In the past two years, Israeli paramilitary colonizers have escalated their attacks on Palestinians in the old city of Hebron, and have tried to solidify Israeli control over the ancient Islamic holy site.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military announced its decision to strip the Hebron municipality in the occupied West Bank of its powers at the Ibrahimi Mosque, a decision which the Palestinian Foreign Ministry calls a “dangerous escalation”.
The transfer of planning and construction permitting powers from the Palestinian Authority to the so-called Israeli Civil Administration, marks the largest structural change since 1994. In November 2025, Israel issued an order to seize the mosque’s inner courtyard.
This decision follows earlier steps in July 2025, when Israel transferred some administrative authorities over the site to the council of the nearby extremist Kiryat Arba paramilitary colony. The Hebron Municipality described the decision as a “serious Judaization step” aimed at changing the Islamic and Arab identity of the mosque and violating international law.
The move is part of a growing pattern of Israeli attacks in Hebron, where Israeli settlers live among approximately 200,000 Palestinians, with the mosque frequently closed to Muslims during Jewish holidays.
On December 24, 2025, in a provocative and sacrilegious move, Israeli colonial settlers, backed by Israeli soldiers and armed paramilitary forces, invaded the Ibrahimi Mosque to celebrate Hanukkah inside the Ibrahimi Mosque, forcing Muslim worshipers out at gunpoint, then dancing and celebrating at the site of Baruch Goldstein’s massacre of praying Palestinian Muslims in 1994.
The Palestinian Ministry condemned the Israeli decision to transfer the planning and building powers of the mosque from the (Palestinian) Hebron municipality to Israeli authorities, and the approval of the project to roof the mosque’s courtyard, in violation of international law and a transgression of the mosque’s legal and historical status. The Ministry also noted that this decision is a violation of Israel’s duties as an occupying authority, and is a serious infringement on the legal and historical status of the Ibrahimi Mosque.
The Ministry emphasized that the encroachment and unilateral forcible seizure of powers from the Palestinian municipality and the Islamic Waqf Department demonstrates that the goal of these measures is not organization or development, but rather the imposition of control and the perpetuation of the illegal Israeli military occupation of the Ibrahimi Mosque and the forced alteration of the existing historical and legal status quo. The Israeli occupation is operating outside any legal framework with its Judaization projects in the occupied West Bank, ignoring legitimate Palestinian rights and the international legal positions of the relevant authorities.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that in 2017, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) included the Old City of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque on the List of World Heritage in Danger in the name of the State of Palestine, which confirms that there is no sovereignty over Hebron and the Mosque except for the Palestinian people and their leadership This adds an international and legal dimension that protects the site from any attempts at Judaization or illegal unilateral changes by the Israeli occupation authorities.
The Ministry affirmed that this Israeli decision is historically and legally invalid and lacks any international or legal legitimacy. It also poses a direct threat to Palestinian identity and the legal protection of religious and historical sites, including the Ibrahimi Mosque, which represents one of the holiest religious and historical sites in Palestine and the world. It stated that it will continue, in cooperation with all relevant international bodies, to take all legal and diplomatic measures to confront these violations and protect the Ibrahimi Mosque from any unilateral changes, in order to preserve the rights of the Palestinian people and the dignity of their religious and historical heritage, and to work on legal action to confront the Judaization of Palestinian holy sites.
