Illegal settlers installed dozens of Israeli flags on the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, ahead of “Israeli Independence Day”, celebrated on Nakba Day, when some 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their lands in 1948.

The Ibrahimi Mosque was the site of a massacre in 1994 when Baruch Goldstein, an American born Israeli settler opened fire on and killed 29 Palestinians during morning prayers.

Sheikh Hifthi Abu Sneineh, the director of the mosque told Ma’an that settlers installed Israeli flags over the mosque “as an attempt to take over the mosque and turn it into a synagogue”.

“As usual, Israeli settlers attempt to impose their control during their Jewish holidays, but we will continue to expose their practices and violations conducted against this Islamic mosque that belongs to all Muslims around the world,” Abu Sneineh said.

Read: 8,000 Jewish settlers raid historical sites in the West Bank

Abu Sneineh noted that Israeli forces had banned the adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, inside the Ibrahimi mosque 66 times in April. He called for support “to stop Israeli settlers’ violations and aggression”.