Israeli troops raid al-Aqsa’s Dome of Rock after razing mosque

The Palestinian Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs has condemned the Israeli regime over demolition of a mosque in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, describing the move a “clear attack on the holy sites and religious places for Muslims.”

Husam Abu al-Rub, undersecretary of the ministry, slammed the demolition, saying it “violates international and humanitarian norms.”

“This act is a clear challenge to the feelings of Muslims, and it requires us to take a serious stand to prevent its recurrence and the expansion of this occupation that spares no opportunity to push the entire region into a religious war, in its continuous encroachment on our Islamic sanctities,” he said in a statement.

Abu al-Rub called on the international community and religious institutions to prevent further “violations of our sanctities and places of worship.”

According to Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors Israeli settlement activities and settler aggression in the West Bank, Israeli forces on Thursday morning escorted a bulldozer into the town of Douma and razed the mosque to the ground.

Daghlas added that the mosque was built two years ago on a Palestinian-owned piece of land.

He noted that Israeli forces also destroyed farm roads in the southern part of the town.

Suleiman Dawabsheh, head of the local council in Douma, said the demolished mosque spread over 60 square meters, and residents of the town frequently visited the mosque for prayers.

The official said the Israeli army razed the mosque on the grounds that it was built on an area classified as Area C without a permit.

Area C of the West Bank constitutes about 61 percent of the territory. Under the 1995 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), control of the area was supposed to be gradually handed over to the PA. Instead, Israel retains total control until today.

Area C is currently home to 300,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are Bedouins and herding communities who predominantly live in tents and caravans and caves.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli forces demolished at least 698 Palestinian-owned structures and displaced 949 Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank and East al-Quds since the beginning of this year.