Hamas Calls for Immediate Halt to ‘Israeli’ Excavations at Al-Aqsa Mosque

In a statement on Thursday, the Gaza-based resistance movement said the excavation work in the vicinity of the al-Aqsa Mosque poses a serious threat to the mosque compound.

“The continued excavations being carried out by the Zionist occupation authorities in the areas of the Buraq Wall [also known as the Western Wall] and Umayyad Palace pose a direct threat to the foundations and walls of the sacred al-Aqsa Mosque, and are an attempt to obliterate the Islamic and historical identities of the city of al-Quds,” read the statement.

Hamas further warned the apartheid regime of full responsibility for “repercussions of such serious violations,” while seeking the intervention of global organizations.

“We call on the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Kingdom of Jordan which has the custodianship of the al-Aqsa Mosque to urgently stop these malicious colonial schemes and protect al-Quds and al-Aqsa Mosque.”

In recent months, Hamas has repeatedly warned that any ‘Israeli’ attempt to seize al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of al-Quds will have “damaging consequences” for Tel Aviv.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques.

The Jewish visitation of al-Aqsa is permitted, but according to an agreement signed between the Zionist regime and the Jordanian government following the ‘Israeli’ occupation of East al-Quds in 1967, non-Muslim worship at the compound remains strictly prohibited.

In May last year, recurrent acts of violence against Palestinian worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque led to an 11-day war between the Zionist occupation regime and Palestinian resistance groups in the besieged Gaza Strip, during which the at least 260 Palestinians, including 66 children, were martyred.