Ben-Gvir Visits Sensitive Jerusalem Holy Site

Security personnel guard Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as he passes by Damascus gate to Jerusalem's Old city marking Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Security personnel guard Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as he passes by Damascus gate to Jerusalem's Old city marking Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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Ben-Gvir Visits Sensitive Jerusalem Holy Site

Security personnel guard Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as he passes by Damascus gate to Jerusalem's Old city marking Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Security personnel guard Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as he passes by Damascus gate to Jerusalem's Old city marking Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday at a time of heightened tensions with the Palestinians.

“I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement following the visit. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it “proves who is in charge in Jerusalem.”

It’s his second known visit since becoming a member of Israel’s most right-leaning government ever.

The visit by the extremist minister comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel’s capturing of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine.

The hilltop site is the holiest in Judaism, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and home to the ancient biblical Temples. Today, it houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there.

Ben-Gvir, along with a growing movement of activists, has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site.

Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel seizing control over the compound. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there.

Violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank has spiked in the last year, as Israel launched near-nightly raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks.
More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.



North Gaza ‘Apocalyptic,’ Everyone at ‘Imminent Risk’ of Death, Warns UN

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 1, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 1, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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North Gaza ‘Apocalyptic,’ Everyone at ‘Imminent Risk’ of Death, Warns UN

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 1, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 1, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

The situation in the northern Gaza Strip is "apocalyptic" as Israel pursues a military offensive against Hamas fighters in the area, top United Nations officials warned on Friday.

"The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence," they said in a statement signed by the heads of UN agencies, including the UN children's agency UNICEF and the World Food Program, and other aid groups.

Israel began a wide military push in northern Gaza earlier this month. The United States has said it was watching to ensure that its ally's actions on the ground show it does not have a "policy of starvation" in the north.

"Humanitarian aid cannot keep up with the scale of the needs due to the access constraints. Basic, life-saving goods are not available. Humanitarians are not safe to do their work and are blocked by Israeli forces and by insecurity from reaching people in need," they said.

They urged all parties fighting in Gaza to protect civilians and called on Israel to "ceases its assault on Gaza and on the humanitarians trying to help."

Israel's UN mission in New York declined comment on the statement. Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon last month told the Security Council that the issue in Gaza was not a lack of aid, saying more than a million tons had been delivered during the past year. He accused Hamas of hijacking the assistance.

Hamas has repeatedly denied Israeli allegations that it was stealing aid and says Israel is to blame for shortages.

On Monday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza without medical or food supplies. Reuters could not verify the number independently.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power spoke with Israel's ambassador to the United States on Friday as a deadline imposed by Washington looms for Israel to improve the situation or face potential restrictions on US military aid.

Power and Herzog "discussed the need to get more aid to the Palestinian people," said USAID spokesperson Benjamin Suarato, adding: "Administrator Power raised serious concern on the humanitarian conditions in northern Gaza."

The United States told Israel in a letter on Oct. 13 that it must take steps within 30 days.