Palestine : A prayer room catches fire in Al-Aqsa Mosque

On Monday night, a fire broke in Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, burning down the Marwani Prayer Room. According to the official Palestinian news agency, a guard said that the fire «broke out in the guard's room outside the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room, and the fire brigade of the Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully».

Newsweek reports that the prayer room is located underneath the southeastern corner of the Haram al-Sharif, which contains the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Fire in Al Aqsa Mosque burned down the room of the Marwani prayer guards pic.twitter.com/P6mp9ajaMM

— Palestine Post 24 (@PalestinePost24) 15 avril 2019

Quoting Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, director general of the Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, the same source indicates that «the fire broke out in the courtyard and preliminary information suggested that it may have been caused by children tampering in the area».

Commenting on the incident, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' office «expressed its deep regret Monday over the fire that broke out at the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in the center of the French capital of Paris, which caused the collapse of the cathedral tower», the same source concluded.