Jerusalem Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound to Close over Virus

A Palestinian man leaves after performing the Friday prayer in East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on August 21, 2020. (AFP)
A Palestinian man leaves after performing the Friday prayer in East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on August 21, 2020. (AFP)
TT
20

Jerusalem Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound to Close over Virus

A Palestinian man leaves after performing the Friday prayer in East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on August 21, 2020. (AFP)
A Palestinian man leaves after performing the Friday prayer in East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on August 21, 2020. (AFP)

Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site, will be closed from Friday following a spike in coronavirus cases, the authority that administers the city's Muslim holy places announced.

With cases of the virus on the rise in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Waqf authority held an emergency meeting with health officials.

Waqf members decided to "suspend the entry of worshippers starting from Friday afternoon (September 18) for a period of three weeks".

"We hope that citizens will understand this procedure, in order to preserve their health and wellbeing," Waqf member Hatem Abdel Qader told AFP.

The closure coincides with a three-week lockdown to be imposed by Israel, which controls the entrances of the compound.

The call to prayer will continue to ring out across Jerusalem's Old City, Qader said, while Waqf employees will be allowed to pray at the site.

Jordan is the custodian of the compound, known by Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, or Holy Sanctuary, and as the Temple Mount by Jews.

It is only the second time that the Waqf has decided to close the compound since Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Israel has previously blocked access to the flashpoint site, which is a focus of Palestinian aspirations for statehood.

The Waqf shut the compound at the onset of the pandemic in March, when sweeping closures upended religious life in a way not seen for centuries.

Israeli authorities have reported nearly 167,000 coronavirus cases, with 1,147 deaths.

In the occupied West Bank, some 214 people have died from the virus and more than 30,200 cases have been registered by Palestinian authorities.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
TT
20

Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including five Hezbollah fighters, in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, a security source in Lebanon said, in what Israel said was a warning to the Iran-backed group against trying to re-establish itself.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted training camps used by elite Hezbollah fighters and warehouses it used to store weapons in the Bekaa Valley region of eastern Lebanon.

The airstrikes were the deadliest on the area since a US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel last November. Bachir Khodr, governor of the Bekaa region, said seven of the dead were Syrian nationals.

Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in last year's conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with other commanders and destroying much of its arsenal.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday's strikes sent a "clear message" to Hezbollah, accusing it of planning to rebuild the capability to raid Israel through the elite Radwan force, Reuters reported.

Israel "will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding", he said. He added that strikes were also a message to the Lebanese government, saying it was responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement.

There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or from the Lebanese government to the latest Israeli strikes.

The United States has submitted a proposal to the Lebanese government aimed at securing Hezbollah's disarmament within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from positions they still hold in south Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon's armed forces were to confiscate "all unauthorized arms", beginning in the area south of the Litani River - the zone closest to Israel.