The Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron. File photo
The Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, rejected the move, saying: "Such unilateral measures are rejected and condemned, and constitute a violation of signed agreements with the Israeli side, as well as a breach of international law."
Hebron’s municipality also condemned the decision, with Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari saying it's "a new attempt to impose control over the historic heart of the city of Hebron," adding that it undermines Palestinian presence at the site despite longstanding movement restrictions.
In a statement posted on his Telegram channel, Israel’s extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he had unilaterally removed Palestinian authority over the site, declaring it would no longer be administered by the municipal authority in the West Bank city of Hebron, effectively stripping Palestinians of long-standing administrative control over the mosque complex.
He made the announcement while attending an event marking the laying of the foundation stone of a new Israeli settlement near Hebron. All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law.
More than 500,000 Israelis now live in settlements on occupied Palestinian lands in West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, which are home to three million Palestinians.
“The meaning of this decision is that many authorities previously granted in Hebron and at the holy sites -- including the very foundation of our existence, the Cave of the Patriarchs -- are no longer under the control of the Hebron Municipality,” Smotrich said.
The decision has sharply escalated tensions over the Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Cave of Patriarchs, a site of deep religious significance in H2 — an Israeli-occupied sector of Hebron that is home to around 40,000 Palestinians alongside roughly 200 Israeli settler families.
Hebron is the largest city in the occupied West Bank, a territory Israel has occupied since 1967. The site is revered by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike as the burial place of Abraham and other patriarchs.
A 1997 protocol left most management of the complex in Palestinian hands, an arrangement that has been steadily undermined in recent years by successive Israeli governments.
Smotrich, a settler himself who lives on Palestinian land, has faced mounting international criticism for advocating West Bank annexation.
Reinforcing the international legal consensus, the International Court of Justice ruled in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal under international law and must end as "rapidly as possible"; however, Israel has failed to comply with the court's mandates.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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