The Israeli occupation deports Al-Aqsa preacher Ikrima Sabri due to the obituary of Ismail Haniyeh

On Friday, the Israeli occupation authorities ordered the removal of Al-Aqsa preacher Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri from the mosque for 6 days, hours after his arrest, due to Ismail Haniyeh’s obituary during the Friday sermon.

This came hours after Sheikh Sabri (85 years old) was arrested and interrogated following an Israeli campaign of incitement against him because he mourned during the Friday sermon at Al-Aqsa the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday.

Khaled Zabarqa, Sheikh Sabri’s lawyer, told Anadolu correspondent that the Israeli authorities released the Al-Aqsa preacher and issued an order deporting him from the mosque until August 8, 2024, with the possibility of extending the deportation for 6 months.

Earlier Friday, Israeli police arrested Sheikh Sabri from inside his home in East Jerusalem.

A video clip broadcast by activists on social media showed the moment of the Sheikh’s arrest, where he appeared moving slowly, leaning on a crutch due to his old age.

The Israeli police arrested Sheikh Sabri several times during the past few years.

But today's latest arrest came after Israeli officials launched a massive campaign of incitement against Sheikh Sabri, after he mourned Haniyeh on behalf of the people of Jerusalem in his Friday sermon.

Sheikh Sabri said in the Friday sermon: “The people of Jerusalem, the outskirts of Jerusalem, and those on the pulpit of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque hold in high esteem before God the martyr Ismail Haniyeh, and we ask God Almighty to have mercy on him and to place him in His spacious Paradise.”

For his part, the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, called on the Public Prosecution to open an investigation against Sheikh Sabri on “suspicion of incitement,” according to what was claimed in a post on the “X” platform.

Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel also announced in a statement that he had sent a letter to the government's legal advisor, Gali Behrav Meara, in which he requested the cancellation of Sheikh Sabri's residence permit in East Jerusalem.

Israel considers the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to be permanent residents, not citizens, and the Minister of the Interior can, under certain conditions, cancel their residency in the city.

On Friday, funeral prayers were held over Haniyeh’s body, in the Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque in the Qatari capital, Doha, with great official and popular participation. Prayers in absentia were also held in mosques in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Arab and Islamic cities.

On Wednesday, Hamas and Iran announced the assassination of Haniyeh, with an Israeli air strike targeting his residence in Tehran, the day after his participation in the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The assassination of Haniyeh, which Tel Aviv has not yet claimed responsibility for, came while Israel, with American support since October 7, 2023, has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that has left more than 130,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing.

Tel Aviv continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately, and the orders of the International Court of Justice to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

(Anatolia)