Closure of Al-Aqsa mosque provocation to Muslims - OIC

The closure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli authorities is a serious precedent and a blunt provocation towards the Islamic Ummah, said the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Its secretary general, Iyad Ameen Madani, said the OIC condemned the action which encroached on the religious right of Muslim in one of their religion's holiest mosques.

“This is a breach of all international covenants, the Geneva convention and the principles of international law,” he said in a statement.

Madani held Israel fully responsible for the repercussions of such an act and cautioned that the escalation of such racist practices would ignite the situation in the region.

He demanded that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) act immediately to deter the repeated Israeli aggressions against the Islamic and Christian holy sites in the occupied Baitul Maqdis.

He also asked the UNSC to stop Israel’s racist violations and crimes against the Palestinian people and their sanctities.

According to reports, Israel announced on Thursday that it would reopen the Al Aqsa Mosque following an international uproar after it had closed the religious site as a result of the shooting of a Jewish hardliner late Wednesday.

According to Al Arabiya News, Israeli police had shot and killed Muataz Hijazi, a Palestinian man suspected of shooting and trying to kill the Jewish activist, but the incident intensified clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli riot police.