West Bank unrest deepens as Israel alters Hebron site control
RAMALLAH, Palestinian territories
A woman looks through an iron gate during celebrations of the Islamic Hijri New Year at the Ibrahimi Mosque, known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs, located inside the Israeli-controlled H2 sector of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, on June 16, 2026.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on June 16 he has stripped Palestinians of administrative authority over one of the West Bank’s most sensitive religious sites, while settlers set fire to a mosque in a nearby village in an escalating pattern of unrest across the occupied territory.
Smotrich said in a Telegram post that management of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron — known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque — would be transferred from the Palestinian-run Hebron municipality to an Israeli committee under his control.
