In a press statement on Friday, Hamas leader Ismail Radwan described israeli president Isaac Herzog’s plan to celebrate the first night of the so-called Hanukkah festival on Sunday in the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of al-Khalil as “a provocation” and “a flagrant violation” of the site’s sanctity.

He further said that “the occupation bears full responsibility for the repercussions of this attack” on the Mosque.

Radwan also called for intensifying Palestinian presence in al-Aqsa Mosque during this week's Hanukkah holidays.

He stressed that al-Aqsa and the Ibrahimi mosques are purely Islamic, as Israel will never succeed to impose new faits accomplis on the sites.

The Hamas leader called on the Islamic nation to “shoulder its duty to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to support our people in Jerusalem, al-Khalil and Palestine.” (ILKHA)