Azhar condemns continued closure of Al Aqsa Mosque
In a statement, Al-Azhar which is based in Cairo Egypt, said the restrictions deprive Palestinians of their right to practice their religious rituals and provoke the sentiments of Muslims worldwide.
Al-Azhar Al-Sharif has strongly condemned the continued closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli forces during the holy month of Ramadhan, Eid al-Fitr, and up to the present day, describing the measure as an unacceptable and unethical act and a blatant violation of international law.
In a statement, Al-Azhar which is based in Cairo, Egypt said the restrictions deprive Palestinians of their right to practice their religious rituals and provoke the sentiments of Muslims worldwide. It warned that such policies could have serious repercussions for regional stability.
Al-Azhar called on the international community to assume its responsibilities and confront what it described as "systematic hostile actions" aimed at fueling tensions and turning the region into a persistent hotspot of conflict.
The institution reaffirmed that Al-Aqsa Mosque will remain a purely Islamic holy site, rejecting any attempts to impose temporal or spatial division or to alter the historical identity of Jerusalem.
Israeli authorities continue to bar Muslims from perfoming prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest mosque in Islam, for the fourth consecutive week, keeping the site closed since late February under emergency measures linked to the war with Iran.
Israeli police has kept the mosque's gates closed and deployed forces across Jerusalem's Old City to prevent worshippers from entering the compound.
Since then, prayers at the mosque have been restricted to only guards and members of the Islamic Waqf, which oversees the site.
Calls have been circulating in Jerusalem urging worshippers to pray as close as possible to Al-Aqsa due to its continued closure. Palestinians have instead been praying in smaller mosques across the city.
Israeli authorities also closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity’s most important holy sites.
Last week, the Israeli government extended the state of emergency until mid-April, though it remains unclear whether the mosque will remain closed until then.
Israel closed Al-Aqsa after the start of its war with Iran on Feb. 28, citing security concerns, while Iran has launched retaliatory missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and what it describes as US interests in the region.
Authorities also prevented Eid al-Fitr prayers at the site this year for the first time since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967.
Foreign ministers of the eight Arab and Islamic countries condemned Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to the old city of Jerusalem and its places of worship saying it constituted a “flagrant violation to international law, including international humanitarian law, the historical and legal status quo, and the principle of unrestricted access to places of worship”.
“The Ministers called on Israel, as the occupying Power, to immediately cease the closure of the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, remove access restrictions to the Old City of Jerusalem, and refrain from obstructing Muslim worshippers’ access to the mosque,” the statement said, calling on the international community to compel Israel to stop its “ongoing violations”.
Despite condemnations from Arab and Muslim countries, Israeli authorities have refused to reopen the mosque. Worshippers in East Jerusalem said the closure is unjustified and politically motivated.