'Israel' transfers Ibrahimi Mosque control to settler council: Hebrew media

'Israeli' authorities have reportedly removed the Hebron municipality’s administrative authority over the Ibrahimi Mosque and handed it to a settler-run religious council, Israel Hayom reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper described the move as a “historic and unprecedented change,” claiming that Israel’s Civil Administration reassigned control of the holy site to the religious council of Kiryat Arba, a settlement adjacent to Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

While the report did not detail the full extent of the powers transferred, it said the decision was meant to enable “structural changes” at the site, including planned roof renovations and construction in the area known as “Jacob’s Courtyard,” which is used primarily by Jewish worshippers.

If confirmed, this would be the most significant alteration to the mosque’s status since the 1994 recommendations of the Shamgar Commission, which divided access to the site, allocating 63 percent for Jewish worshippers and 37 percent for Muslims. That division followed the massacre carried out by extremist settler Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinians during dawn prayers at the mosque.

The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, in a statement issued on February 26, reiterated that the Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Cave of Machpelah, remains “an exclusive Islamic endowment” and condemned what it described as 'Israeli' attempts to turn the mosque into a Jewish synagogue.

The mosque, located in Hebron’s Old City, sits in a zone fully controlled by 'Israel', where about 400 settlers live under the protection of an estimated 1,500 'Israeli' soldiers.