West Bank16 September, 20263 min read
Israeli Soldiers Close Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, Tighten Gates for Muslim Worshippers
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Israeli soldiers closed Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron to Muslim worshippers until Thursday evening. Closure cited security measures for illegal Israeli settlers celebrating Jewish holidays.
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Hebron mosque closed
Israeli soldiers closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron to Muslim worshippers until Thursday evening, citing “security measures” for illegal Israeli settlers celebrating Jewish holidays. The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs condemned the closure, calling on international and human rights institutions to intervene urgently to halt “systematic violations against the mosque” and ensure Muslims’ freedom to access it. Ibrahimi Mosque director Motasem Abu Sneineh said the closure was part of “the ongoing escalation and efforts to seize what remains of the mosque,” and he described the mosque as “an exclusively Islamic site in all its halls and courtyards.”
Israeli forces tightened military measures around the mosque and closed checkpoints and electronic gates leading to it, which the Palestinian news agency Wafa said completely halted classes at the Ibrahimi school and disrupted education at Al-Fayhaa Basic School for Girls. The TRT World report said the Old City of Hebron is under full Israeli occupation, where around 400 illegal settlers live under the protection of approximately 1,500 Israeli soldiers.
Senators demand State report
In Washington, D.C., more than 20 US senators introduced a privileged resolution seeking a State Department report on violence in the occupied West Bank, including the deaths of American citizens.
The resolution, introduced under Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act, would require the State Department to provide Congress with information about investigations into the killings of US citizens in the West Bank by illegal Israeli occupiers or Israeli security forces, and it would also seek an assessment of the human rights situation in the territory, including the detention of Palestinian children.
Senator Bernie Sanders said, “The United States cannot keep bankrolling this violence,” adding that “For years, the Israeli government has offered impunity instead of accountability. Enough is enough.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen said the violence committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank is reaching an “unprecedented level,” and he argued that American citizens have been killed “and they have received no justice and no accountability.”
The Anadolu Ajansı report said the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would have 10 days to consider the measure before it could be brought to the Senate floor, and if approved the administration would have 30 days to submit the report with failure triggering restrictions on certain US security assistance to Israel.
Rule of law and stakes
An i24NEWS report on a new INSS report from Tel Aviv University’s “Conflict to Resolution” research team warned that Jewish terrorism and nationalist crime are accelerating “the breakdown of Israel's state institutions.”
The report said 660 incidents of nationalist crime were recorded in the first half of 2026, a 63% increase compared to the second half of 2025, and it reported that in the same period 140 Palestinians were injured and six killed in acts of Jewish terrorism.
i24NEWS quoted IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth as saying the violence “does not occur in a vacuum and is fueled by public support,” and it noted that Central Command officers acknowledged “failing every day to uphold the law” due to insufficient legal and enforcement tools.
The INSS report also tied the violence to broader policy dynamics, describing the use of “agricultural farms” and illegal outposts backed by state budgets and infrastructure as tools to displace Palestinians and advance what it called the “Decisive Plan” for asserting Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.
The report concluded that failure to act “jeopardizes” Israel's ability to function as “a responsible state governed by the rule of law,” warning that “a democracy that surrenders its duty to defend itself and enforce the law against radical forces within it jeopardizes its very survival.”