The Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied Palestinian city of Hebron is facing a new phase of architectural alterations that threaten its historic identity. The latest works coincide with the deployment of heavy machinery and steel lifting equipment inside the mosque’s courtyards, while the Israeli occupation continues to prevent the call to prayer from being raised, further deepening concerns over the site’s future.
According to a field report by Mohammed Al Atrash, Israeli occupation authorities have begun constructing a steel roof over the mosque’s open courtyard, known as the “Ibrahimi Courtyard”.
Palestinian officials fear the project is part of a broader effort to strip Palestinian institutions of their authority over the site, remove their role in managing and preserving the mosque, and facilitate the expansion of surrounding Israeli settlements.
Yousef Al Jaabari, Mayor of Hebron, said the municipality’s earlier warnings about the gradual removal of its powers are now being implemented on the ground. He stated that roofing the courtyard is intended to erase the mosque’s Islamic architectural features while undermining the authority of the Palestinian Waqf and the municipality in favour of expanding nearby settlement outposts.
Tawfiq Jahshan, head of the Legal Department at the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, warned that the project also poses a serious structural risk to the centuries old building.
He explained that the open courtyard serves as a natural ventilation system for the historic structure. Sealing it would trap moisture inside the walls, accelerating stone erosion and potentially causing structural cracks that could threaten parts of the mosque.
A Gradual Strategy to Tighten Control
The latest architectural changes did not emerge suddenly. Rather, they represent the latest stage in a process that has unfolded over several months under the direction of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The process began in January this year, when the Higher Planning Council of the Israeli Civil Administration approved the transfer of planning authority for the mosque from the Hebron Municipality. The move cleared the way for construction permits for the roofing project after the municipality had repeatedly rejected Israeli requests to carry it out.
In February, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved additional measures, including the repeal of the Jordanian law prohibiting the sale of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and the transfer of construction licensing powers in Hebron from the municipality to the Israeli Civil Administration.
By mid June, Smotrich announced the completion of legal procedures abolishing Palestinian planning and construction authority, transferring full responsibility to Israeli authorities as part of a broader plan to impose Israeli sovereignty on the ground.
On 23 June, Israeli machinery began removing the historic canopy covering the courtyard in preparation for the installation of the new steel roof.
Undermining the Hebron Protocol
The current measures represent a significant departure from the legal and political framework established under the Hebron Protocol, signed on 17 January 1997 between the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Israel as part of the Oslo process.
The agreement divided Hebron into two administrative areas.
H1 came under Palestinian administration, while H2, which includes the Old City, the Ibrahimi Mosque and nearby Israeli settlements, remained under Israeli security control.
Despite Israel’s security control over H2, the protocol explicitly preserved civilian authority for the Hebron Municipality, including responsibility for urban planning, construction, infrastructure, water, electricity and public services.
Palestinian officials argue that the current Israeli decisions are specifically designed to dismantle those remaining powers.
Among the latest measures is the approval of the construction of the Shavei Hevron religious school, covering approximately 1,000 square metres near the Beit Romano settlement, without Palestinian approval.
Palestinian officials view this as another step towards marginalising Palestinian institutions while altering the status quo at the Ibrahimi Mosque, which has been listed as an endangered World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 2017.
The Origins of the Current Crisis
The latest architectural changes are rooted in policies introduced after the massacre at the Ibrahimi Mosque in February 1994, when an Israeli settler opened fire inside the mosque, killing 29 Palestinian worshippers and injuring dozens more.
In the aftermath, Israeli authorities established the Shamgar Commission, whose recommendations resulted in the temporal and spatial division of the mosque, alongside the deployment of more than 120 military checkpoints and security barriers throughout Hebron’s Old City.
In July 2025, Israeli authorities transferred planning and administrative authority over the Ibrahimi Mosque from the Hebron Municipality to the religious council of the Kiryat Arba settlement.
That decision paved the way for the current architectural modifications, allowing new construction projects to proceed without the municipality’s approval and ultimately leading to the installation of the steel roof over the mosque’s courtyard.
Observers say the increasing restrictions at military checkpoints and electronic gates surrounding the mosque are part of a broader effort to limit Palestinian worshippers’ access, isolate the site from its community and consolidate Israeli control over the Ibrahimi Mosque in support of the expanding settlement project in the heart of Hebron.
