Israeli Knesset Members Enter Aqsa Compound after Two-Year Ban

Israeli soldiers walk past the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers walk past the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. (AFP)
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Israeli Knesset Members Enter Aqsa Compound after Two-Year Ban

Israeli soldiers walk past the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers walk past the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. (AFP)

Israeli Knesset members stormed into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Tuesday for the first time in two years, amid claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to divide the mosque, to demolish it and incite religious war in the region.

MPs Yehuda Glick of the Likud party and Shuli Moalem of the right-wing “Jewish Home” party stormed the compound through the Mugharba Gate. They were followed by rabbis and extremists. Arab MPs did not enter the area to avoid claims that Netanyahu is dictating the time of their visits.

Guarded by Israeli police, Glick and Moalem conducted two separate tours in the yards of the mosque before they left.

"I prayed for me and my family and my children and my wife, and I prayed for world peace. I prayed that God would give our prime minister strength to do his job, that he would be exonerated of all the crimes he is suspected of and would continue to unite the entire nation,” Glick said.

The Israeli government allowed a number of MPs to visit the compound as part of a one-day trial period to test the response to such a step.

Members of Knesset from the Joint List announced that they are boycotting the pilot. MP Ahmed al-Tibi said that Arab MPs will enter the al-Aqsa Compound whenever they want, not whenever Netanyahu gives the order.

Tibi said that Glick and Moalem broke into al-Aqsa Compound with the help of the Israeli government and its police.

In October 2015, Netanyahu instructed the police to bar members of the Knesset from visiting the site in the Old City of Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, in a move aimed at calming unrest as security forces predicted that their visit could lead to clashes.

Palestinian Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs Sheikh Youssef Adeis stated that the decision by the extreme right-wing Israeli government to allow Knesset members to break into the compound is a provocative decision that is illegal and inhumane and against Islamic Sharia law. It was issued by an irresponsible authority, since al-Aqsa is restricted to Muslims only, he added.

Adeis said that the Israeli occupation continued to assault worshipers amid serious Israeli attempts to divide the mosque.

He added that since last month over 100 violations committed at al-Aqsa had been registered, and over 700 since the beginning of the year.



Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
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Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed at least 29 Palestinians, including six children near a water distribution point.

The attacks came with apparent deadlock in a week of indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the territory.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight, "including women and children" and wounding others.

An Israeli airstrike hit a family home near the Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in "10 martyrs and several injured", Bassal said.

In central Gaza, six children were among eight people killed when a drone "hit a potable water distribution point in an area for displaced people" in the Nuseirat camp, he added.

Several other people were wounded, he said.

In the territory's south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defense spokesman.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza, more than 21 months into the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack.

On Saturday, the military said fighter jets had hit more than 35 "Hamas terror targets" around Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.

The vast majority of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties.