Palestinian officials at the Al-Aqsa Mosque reported that rainwater was leaking and a number of floor tiles collapsed inside the Mosque compound on Wednesday, The Palestine Information Centre reports.
According to the officials, rainwater leaked in the morning into the Aqsa Mosque’s Marwani prayer building from holes in its roof and several floor tiles caved in near Al-Ghawanmeh Gate.
The officials affirmed that the Israeli restrictions on restoration works at the Mosque, and the underground digging under its foundations were the reasons for such problems.
In this regard, Sheikh Najeh Bakirat, deputy head of the Islamic Awqaf Administration in Occupied Jerusalem, warned that the Israeli Occupation Authority’s (IOA) refusal to allow the Islamic Awqaf to carry out renovations to the Aqsa Mosque’s prayer buildings and premises constitutes a great danger to its existence.
Sheikh Bakirat held the IOA fully responsible for any harm coming to the Aqsa Mosque and appealed to international heritage organisations to take action to save the Mosque.
Source: Middle East Monitor
