Flooding at the Cave of the Patriarchs
Flooding at the Cave of the PatriarchsCave of the Patriarchs administration

On Friday, prayers were not held in the Cave of the Patriarchs' (Me'arat Hamachpelah) main hall, and hundreds of worshipers were forced to squish into a smaller prayer space.

The reason? Rain had penetrated the central hall, after several hours of rain had fallen in the area.

The central hall floods every time it rains, since the Muslim Waqf (religious authority) refuses to roof the building.

Meanwhile, the staff running the Cave of the Patriarchs said the Waqf "is backed by the Israeli court system, which sees the Cave of the Patriarchs as a Waqf-owned Muslim heritage site."

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in July announced their decision to award Israel's Cave of the Patriarchs (Me'arat Hamachpela) to convicted terrorist and Hevron Mayor Tiyassir Abu Sanina, as a representative of the Fatah's Palestinian Authority.

Watch the Hebrew video (with clear footage of the flooding) here:

מערת המכפלה מוצפת במיםמנהלת מערת המכפלה