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.
