- Pray for Haniyeh: Israeli police arrest clerics
Israel's Police has provisionally arrested the Imam of the Jerusalem Al-Aksa Mosque, Ikrima Sabri, due to a prayer for the slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The 85-year-old Islamic cleric was taken away by police hours after Friday prayers, his lawyer said. Israeli media reported that police are investigating whether Sabri incited violence during the Friday sermon.
Haniyeh, the long-time Hamas foreign chief, was assassinated in Tehran on Tuesday night. The circumstances of his killing are still unclear. Iran and Hamas accuse Israel of carrying out the attack. Israel has not yet commented on this.
In the mosques of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinian preachers commemorated Haniyeh in their Friday sermons. Sabri is reported to have said that the residents of Jerusalem pray to God to bestow his mercy on the "martyr". "We ask for his compassion and paradise." Sabri also heads the Palestinian Supreme Islamic Council.
The Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is considered the third holiest site in Islam. Israel captured the Temple Mount complex along with the Old City of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War in 1967. Formally, the Muslim sites are administered by a Jordanian foundation. Israel controls access, which it sometimes restricts.
Haniyeh was buried in Doha, Qatar, where he had been living in exile. Hamas called for a "Day of Rage" in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which was supposed to manifest in protest marches following Friday prayers. However, residents reported that the call had little effect.
Israel and Hamas are engaged in a war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. The bloodshed was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by Hamas and other extremist groups' terrorists in southern Israel on October 7 last year. Hamas referred to the attack as the "Al-Aksa Intifada". More than 1200 people were killed on the Israeli side, and another 250 were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.
The following investigation by Israeli police into Imam Sabri's sermon revolves around allegations of incitement during his commemoration of Haniyeh. The following Al-Aksa Mosque, located in Jerusalem, is a significant site in Islam.
