In what is being labeled an “unprecedented move,” Israel is taking administrative control over the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Israel Hayom reported last week.

The Civil Administration has transferred control to the Kiryat Arba-Hebron Religious Council to enable major renovations that have been needed for years.

It had been under the management of the city’s Muslim Wakf (religious authority) even after Israel liberated Hebron in the 1967 Six Day War, and its authority was codified in the 1995 Wye River Accords that completed the Oslo Accords and handed the Palestinian Authority control over most of the city.