After Friday sermon

Prayer for dead Hamas leader: Israel arrests imam

The imam of Jerusalem's Al-Aksa Mosque, Ikrima Sabri, was temporarily arrested on Friday.(Bild: AFP)

Israeli police have temporarily arrested the imam of Jerusalem's Al-Aksa Mosque, Ikrima Sabri, for praying for the dead Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Police officers took the 85-year-old Islamic cleric away a few hours after Friday prayers, his lawyer announced.

Israeli media reported that the police were investigating whether Sabri had incited violence during Friday prayers. After questioning him, the authorities released him - on condition that he not enter the Al-Aqsa mosque until August 8, the lawyer said.

Hamas leader killed with bomb
Haniyeh, the long-time foreign head of the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, was deliberately killed on Wednesday night during a visit to Tehran. The exact circumstances of his murder are still unclear. Iran and Hamas accuse Israel of carrying out the attack. Israel has not yet commented on this.

In the mosques of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinian preachers commemorated Haniyeh in their Friday prayers. According to media reports, Sabri is said to have said that the residents of Jerusalem would pray to God to grant the "martyr" his mercy. "We pray for him compassion and paradise." Sabri also heads the Palestinian Supreme Islamic Council.

 Al-Aksa Mosque is the third most important shrine in Islam
The Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount is considered the third most important shrine in Islam. Israel conquered the Temple Mount complex together with the Old City of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967. The Muslim sites are formally administered by a Jordanian foundation. Israel controls access, which it repeatedly restricts.

Haniyeh was buried on Friday in the Qatari capital Doha, where he had last lived in exile. Hamas had called on Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to hold a "Day of Rage". This should have been expressed in protest marches following Friday prayers. According to reports from residents, the call was largely ineffective.