Israeli minister Smotrich leads settlers in Palestinian flag burning procession inside Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque

Israeli forces barred dozens of Palestinians from entering Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque on Friday at dawn, as thousands of settlers descended upon the Israeli-allocated "Jewish section" of the mosque to burn Palestinian flags.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich led the settler incursion into the courtyards of the mosque, where he addressed the crowd which included prominent settler figures from illegal settlements in the Hebron area and several rabbis.

No prior warning was given to the Palestinians by Israeli forces.

Imad Abu Shamsiyeh, the co-founder of Human Rights Defenders in Tel Rumeida, a neighbourhood next to the mosque, said the settlers brought effigies bearing the Palestinian flag as well as the Fatah and Hamas flags.

They set these on fire as they danced to loud music, while other settlers waved the Israeli flag.

Abu Shamsiyeh explained there were "clear signs of premeditated Israeli intentions to launch an action against the Ibrahimi Mosque and the nearby neighbourhoods".

He said settlers had driven in from other settlements in the Hebron area and a procession had set off from Kiryat Arba, an illegal Israeli settlement in the heart of Hebron city.

They then passed through the closed and besieged neighbourhoods of Hebron's Old City —Tel Rumeida, Shuhada Street, Wadi al-Hussain and others before entering the mosque.

Hebron Endowments director Jamal Abu Aram said soon after Muslim worshippers had started to enter the mosque, Israeli forces had shut all gates to the mosque and began firing stun grenades at those present, including the mosque's director, Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh.

As a result, the worshipers were forced to perform the Fajr (dawn) prayers outside the mosque.

Abu Aram said the event marked a new precedent amid a series of escalating Israeli violations against the mosque since the start of the year.

Israel has banned Palestinians from worshipping at the Ibrahimi mosque during the ten days of Jewish holidays each year for many years.

In this case, however, there was no official Jewish religious occasion and the Palestinian Civil Liaison Office had not been informed of any planned disruption for security reasons or coordination purposes which is the usual protocol followed, said Abu Arab.

The Ibrahimi Mosque has remained under Israeli occupation since 1994, when an Israeli settler massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers. Since then, Israel has divided the site, allocating 63 percent - including the call-to-prayer area - to Jewish settlers, and the remaining 37 percent to Muslims. Today, around 400 settlers live in Hebron's Old City under the protection of 1,500 Israeli soldiers.

This is an edited and abridged translation from our Arabic edition.