The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned Israel’s closure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the banning of Friday prayer for the first time since 1969, considering it a crime, a serious precedent, a blatant aggression against the holy sites and an attack on the rights and freedom of Palestinians to practice their religious rites.

OIC Secretary General Dr. Yousef A. Al-Othaimeen warned against the Israeli occupation’s attempts to impose a new reality in Al-Haram Al-Qudsi Al-Sharif. He called on the international community to act immediately to deter repeated Israeli attacks against Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Al-Quds and to stop Israel’s racist violations and crimes against the Palestinian people and its holy sites.