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Haniyeh to Visit Beirut, Meet Top Officials

Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh (FILE PHOTO - Anadolu Agency)
Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh (FILE PHOTO - Anadolu Agency)
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Haniyeh to Visit Beirut, Meet Top Officials

Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh (FILE PHOTO - Anadolu Agency)
Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh (FILE PHOTO - Anadolu Agency)

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh will carry out a two-day visit to Beirut on Sunday, as part of a foreign tour that will take him to a number of Arab countries, the Palestinian movement said in a statement.

Haniyeh is visiting Beirut alongside a number of Hamas officials. He is expected to hold talks with a number of Lebanese officials, including President Michel Aoun, caretaker Prime-Minister Hassan Diab and Speaker Nabih Berri, as well as leaders of Palestinian factions in Lebanon.

The Hamas statement said that during his meetings with officials in Beirut, Haniyeh will discuss last month’s fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the plight of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

Haniyeh was last in Beirut in September 2020 when he participated by videoconference in a meeting of Palestinian leaders hosted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
Haniyeh was last in the country in 1993.

The Hamas leader has recently visited Egypt, Morocco, and Mauritania with hopes to revive support for the Palestinian cause and rally support against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

He resides in the Gulf state of Qatar.

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Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
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Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, his spokesperson said, prompting strong condemnation from Jordan and Palestinian group Hamas.

The firebrand politician was visiting the site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, in occupied east Jerusalem after returning to the Israeli government last month following the resumption of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Ben-Gvir had quit the cabinet in January in protest at the ceasefire agreement in the Palestinian territory.

Since the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at the end of 2022, Ben-Gvir has made several trips to the Al-Aqsa compound, each time triggering international outcry.

In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned Wednesday’s visit as a “storming” and “an unacceptable provocation.”

Hamas called it a “provocative and dangerous escalation,” saying the visit was “part of the ongoing genocide against our Palestinian people.”

“We call on our Palestinian people and our youth in the West Bank to escalate their confrontation... in defense of our land and our sanctities, foremost among them the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it said in a statement.

The site is Islam’s third-holiest and a symbol of Palestinian national identity.

Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism’s holiest place, revered as the site of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Under the status quo maintained by Israel, which has occupied east Jerusalem and its Old City since 1967, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.

Ben-Gvir’s spokesperson told AFP the minister “went there because the site was opened (for non-Muslims) after 13 days,” during which access was reserved for Muslims for the festival of Eid al-Fitr and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In recent years, growing numbers of Jewish ultranationalists have defied the rules, including Ben-Gvir, who publicly prayed there in 2023 and 2024.

The Israeli government has said repeatedly that it intends to uphold the status quo at the compound but Palestinian fears about its future have made it a flashpoint for violence.