Far-right Israeli minister storms flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem

JERUSALEM/ANKARA

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir forced his way, along with illegal settlers, into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday, marking a new provocation amid the ongoing war on Gaza.

Ben-Gvir entered the flashpoint site under heavy police protection and toured the mosque’s courtyard, a few days ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday on April 12-20, an official with the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem told Anadolu.

The extremist minister was accompanied by over 24 illegal settlers during his tour, he added.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry denounced Ben-Gvir’s intrusion as "a deliberate provocation" and a violation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque's "established historical and legal status quo."

It stressed that Israel has “no sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites."

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas decried the raid as “a dangerous escalation as part of the (Israeli) genocidal war against the Palestinian people."

It called on the Palestinians to escalate confrontations with the Israeli army in defense of the holy site and urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League to "take effective actions" to stop Israel's systematic violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The intrusion was the sixth by the far-right minister into the Al-Aqsa complex since he joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in 2022.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli authorities have imposed strict measures limiting Palestinians’ access from the occupied West Bank to East Jerusalem.

Palestinians consider these restrictions as part of Israel’s broader efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, and erase its Arab and Islamic identity.

Since 2003, Israel has allowed illegal settlers into the flashpoint compound on an almost daily basis with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.