LONDON: Israeli authorities on Wednesday extended their Al-Aqsa Mosque entry ban on Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, over a Gaza sermon.

Sheikh Hussein’s lawyer said that Israel extended an initial eight-day ban on entering the holy site in East Jerusalem to an additional six months.

Authorities imposed the first ban after a Friday sermon in late July, during which Sheikh Hussein denounced the Israeli starvation policy against 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, Wafa news agency reported. Israeli forces summoned the grand mufti on July 27 and issued him an eight-day expulsion order from the mosque, which could be renewed.

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs condemned the Israeli decision.

“The ban of the mufti is a clear attempt by the (Israeli) occupation to empty Al-Aqsa of religious authorities who confront its plans, and demonstrate the extent and scope of its violations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in general, and Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular,” it said in a statement.