ISTANBUL 

Jordan denounced on Tuesday an incursion by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

Ben-Gvir stormed the flashpoint site on Tuesday for the second time in a week under heavy police protection, according to Jerusalem’s Islamic Endowments Directorate.

In a statement, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry strongly denounced the incursions by Ben-Gvir and extremist settlers as “a flagrant violation of the existing legal and historical status of Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

“Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied city of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites,” it said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Fuad Al-Majali called on Israel, as an occupying power, “to halt these violations and all provocative measures that constitute a continuation of the Israeli government’s racist policy aimed at perpetuating its dangerous escalation and unilateral, illegitimate, and illegal measures in the occupied West Bank and the violation of the sanctity of Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem.”

The spokesman reaffirmed that Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire space, is an exclusive place of worship for Muslims, and the Jordan-run Islamic Waqf Department “is the only authority legally responsible for overseeing the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

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

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

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.