Thousands of Israeli settlers have stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds under the pretext of marking the destruction of ancient Jewish temples there, in yet another provocative move against Palestinian worshippers.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing the al-Quds Governorate, reported on Wednesday that among those who broke into the mosque were far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Knesset member Amit Halevi.
During the incursion, Halevi performed Talmudic rituals inside the compound and raised the flag of the Zionist regime, in what the governorate described as a provocative act that constitutes a violation of the historic and legal status quo governing the mosque.
The governorate noted in a statement that Israeli police allowed the size of each group to increase to approximately 150 settlers during the break-ins.
It also reported that Israeli forces are continuing to implement rigorous restrictions at the gates of the al-Aqsa Mosque and in the surrounding areas of the Old City, with a substantial deployment across the mosque’s courtyards, which prevents worshippers from accessing the site.
The governorate highlighted that only a small number of worshippers managed to reach the mosque for dawn prayers before the Israeli forces assaulted several individuals.
Earlier, the Hamas resistance movement had cautioned against a plan by extremist Jewish groups to organize large-scale settler break-ins at the Aqsa Mosque on Thursday, which they claim is in commemoration of the destruction of the first and second temples in al-Quds by the ancient Babylonians and Romans, respectively.
The Gaza-based group denounced the move as a “blatant violation of the sanctity of the Islamic holy site and a direct provocation to Muslims worldwide.”
Hamas stated on Wednesday that the ongoing attempts in al-Quds to alter its religious and historical identity, along with the recent act of painting the ‘Messiah’ symbol on the stones of the eastern courtyard of the Aqsa Mosque, represent a flagrant act of aggression that must not be overlooked.
“Such actions will incite greater anger, more confrontations, and resistance against the occupying regime and its settler groups, who will find no peace on our land and within our holy sites,” the movement said.
“We affirm that the Aqsa Mosque will remain purely Islamic, indivisible and impervious to Judaization,” Hamas added.
The resistance movement finally called upon Palestinian citizens from al-Aqsa and the territories occupied in 1948 to regularly visit the Aqsa Mosque, and increase their presence in its courtyards and surrounding areas to safeguard it from desecration and Judaization.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Jewish visitation of al-Aqsa is permitted, but as part of a decades-old agreement between Jordan, the custodian of Islamic and Christian sites in al-Quds, and Israel in the wake of Israel’s occupation of East al-Quds in 1967, non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited.
