Israel’s Ben-Gvir Storms Al-Aqsa Mosque, Prompting Condemnation

Israeli police closed the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque after the visit of extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Old City of Jerusalem on Thursday (Reuters)
Israeli police closed the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque after the visit of extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Old City of Jerusalem on Thursday (Reuters)
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Israel’s Ben-Gvir Storms Al-Aqsa Mosque, Prompting Condemnation

Israeli police closed the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque after the visit of extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Old City of Jerusalem on Thursday (Reuters)
Israeli police closed the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque after the visit of extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Old City of Jerusalem on Thursday (Reuters)

In a highly controversial move, extremist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, along with various right-wing extremist groups, staged a provocative visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque on the anniversary of the Jewish “Temple Destruction.”

This visit has drawn widespread condemnation from Palestinian, Arab, and international communities, with warnings of escalating tensions and potential new cycles of violence in the region.

Israeli activists and police reported that Ben-Gvir was among approximately two thousand Jewish visitors who entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards on Thursday.

Among them, 16 individuals were detained by the police on charges of “kneeling and singing,” as reported by AFP.

While Jews are permitted to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, they are prohibited from praying there.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli minister’s and a group of settlers’ storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard.

Palestinian Presidential Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh stated that the intrusion by an “extremist minister in the Israeli occupation government” into the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a dangerous act that contributes to escalating tensions.

The incident also drew condemnation from Egypt, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League, Qatar, Türkiye, and Jordan. Palestinian factions also vowed to take “revenge” in response to the storming.

Meanwhile, a group calling themselves the “Al-Ayash Brigade” in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, fired a rocket towards an Israeli settlement on Thursday morning.

The group issued a statement saying that the rocket was launched in retaliation for the mosque’s invasion, adding that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a “red line” that they will not allow to be crossed, and that “greater things are yet to come.”

The rocket launch comes as Israeli security officials claim that a new military operation in Jenin is becoming inevitable, but it will not be as extensive as the recent two-day operation that occurred earlier this month.



Sudan's RSF, Allied Groups to Sign Charter to Form Parallel Government, Two Signatories Say

Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)
Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)
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Sudan's RSF, Allied Groups to Sign Charter to Form Parallel Government, Two Signatories Say

Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)
Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces will sign a charter with allied political and armed groups on Saturday evening to establish a "government of peace and unity" in territories it controls, signatories al-Hadi Idris and Ibrahim Mirghani told Reuters.

The RSF has seized most of the western Darfur region and swathes of the Kordofan region in an almost-two-year war, but is being pushed back from central Sudan by the Sudanese army, which has condemned the formation of a parallel government.

Such a government, which has already drawn an expression of concern from the United Nations, is not expected to receive widespread recognition. Those affiliated with the government say its formation will be announced from inside the country.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the paramilitary that has been accused of widespread abuses including genocide, was hit with sanctions by the United States earlier this year.

The war, which erupted after disagreements between the RSF and the army over their integration during a transition towards democracy, has devastated the country, driving half the population into hunger.

According to Idris, among the signatories to the charter and foundational constitution is powerful rebel leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu who controls vast swathes of territory and troops in South Kordofan state, and who has long demanded that Sudan embrace secularism.

Talks that began earlier this week were hosted in Kenya, drawing condemnation from Sudan and domestic criticism of President William Ruto for plunging the country into a diplomatic melee.