JERUSALEM: The Al-Aqsa mosque compound will be closed on Friday, stated authorities on Wednesday after an increase on COVID-19 cases.
With cases of the virus increasing in Israel and the Palestinian areas, the Waqf authority held an emergency situation conference with health authorities.
Waqf members chose to “suspend the entry of worshippers beginning with Friday afternoon (September 18) for a duration of three weeks”.
” We hope that people will understand this procedure, in order to preserve their health and wellness,” 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 call out throughout Jerusalem ´ s Old City, Qader stated, while Waqf staff members will be enabled to hope 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 just the second time that the Waqf has actually chosen to close the substance because Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Israel has actually formerly obstructed access to the flashpoint site, which is a focus of Palestinian aspirations for statehood.
The Waqf shut the substance at the onset of the pandemic in March, when sweeping closures overthrew 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 individuals have died from the infection and more than 30,200 cases have actually been registered by Palestinian authorities.
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