Hamas, Jordan Condemn Israeli Settlers’ Storming of Al-Aqsa
More than 3,200 Israeli settlers and members of far-right groups stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East al-Quds in one of the largest incursions this year as they mark a Jewish holiday, Palestinian officials say.
Far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also entered the site under heavy police protection on Thursday for Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning.
The Islamic Waqf Department in al-Quds said in a statement that 3,228 Israelis entered the compound during the morning period.
The Palestinian administration of the al-Quds governorate said the number was expected to keep rising until sundown, perhaps reaching 5,000, which would exceed the numbers recorded in previous years during the same Jewish holiday.
Palestinian officials said Israeli forces imposed tight restrictions at the mosque’s gates, barred large numbers of Palestinian worshippers and students from entering, and assaulted several worshippers.
Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said Israeli authorities had “taken extreme measures in the Old City” of al-Quds, including barring entry to the Al-Aqsa compound for all but the elderly and tightening checkpoints such as those at Qalandiya and around East al-Quds.
Israeli settlers performed Talmudic rituals inside the compound, including prostrating themselves, singing and praying, the al-Quds governorate said.
Israeli media reported that police allowed more than 1,000 Israelis to pray at the site on Thursday. While non-Muslims are allowed to visit Islam’s third holiest site, they are forbidden from praying there as part of a 1967 agreement.
Ben-Gvir said Jews visiting the site on Tisha B’Av “feel like the owners”, praising what he called “tremendous progress” there, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
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The al-Quds governorate described Ben-Gvir’s entry as a dangerous escalation, saying it reflected official Israeli backing for actions previously associated with groups advocating for the reconstruction of a Jewish temple at the site.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s foreign ministry condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit, saying it was “a desecration of the sanctity of the mosque, an escalation, a barbaric act, and unacceptable provocation.”
Foreign ministry spokesperson, Ambassador Fouad Majali, warned that such actions violate the site’s historical and legal status quo.
Amman urged the international community to pressure Israel to halt ongoing violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in al-Quds.
Al Jazeera’s Odeh said the participation of Israel’s ruling Likud party figures marked a “fundamental political shift” as Palestinian and Muslim officials argued that calls for rebuilding a temple at the site are now “endorsed by key figures in the Israeli government and the Israeli parliament”.
Odeh said the incursions were expected to continue into Friday and “could spark further confrontations”, noting that Friday prayers at the compound usually draw thousands of worshippers.
The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs earlier condemned calls for the incursions as a “dangerous escalation” aimed at altering the historical and legal status quo at the site and urged the international community to press Israel to halt them.
Israel occupied East al-Quds in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed it in 1980, a move not recognized internationally.
Source: Al Jazeera
