Aqsa Mosque sustains serious fissures in its walls

 The Islamic-Christian authority catering for Jerusalem and holy places warned that the Aqsa Mosque has sustained serious cracks and fissures in its walls that may lead to its collapse as a result of the ongoing excavations carried out by Israel underground.

The authority said that these excavations also caused fissures in hundreds of Palestinian homes and real estate in the vicinity of the Mosque, adding that all tunnel excavations in Silwan neighborhood are heading towards the Aqsa Mosque.

The authority pointed to the reoccurrence of cave-ins in many houses and streets, the latest of which happened on the street of Wadi Hilwa in Silwan neighborhood, near the Aqsa Mosque.

It affirmed that at late hours every night, large Israeli trucks come to excavation sites to load up with rocks and dirt and then take it to a dumpsite in Alizariya town east of Jerusalem.

In the same context, senior Hamas official and lawmaker Dr. Younis Al-Astal said Tuesday that the increase in subsidence incidents in the vicinity of the Aqsa Mosque indicates that the tunnel excavations carried out by Israel reached a serious level threatening the Mosque.

Dr. Astal stressed that these excavations and Judaization activities in Jerusalem would not have been possible without the collusion of Mahmoud Abbas and his authority with Israel against the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank.

For his part, Hamas spokesman Hammad Al-Ruqub warned that any harm inflicted on the Aqsa Mosque would have serious repercussions on Israel and would trigger a new massive intifada.

Spokesman Ruqub underlined that the successive cave-ins and the size of tunnels being established by Israel under the Aqsa Mosque and its environs authenticate the warnings made by organizations that follow up the developments in Jerusalem.

He also said that Israel’s decisions to exile and imprison some prominent Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem and the 1948 occupied land who defend the Aqsa Mosque such as Sheikh Ra’ed Salah and Sheikh Ekrema Sabri portend its bad faith towards the Mosque.