This is the third time that the extremist Israeli politician storms Al-Aqsa since he joined the government of Benjamin Netanyahu at the beginning of 2023.
Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has reportedly stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday morning, while joined by a group of Jewish extremists.
The latest raid by the Israeli minister was condemned by Palestinian and Jordanian foreign ministries and was described by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) as an escalation of a religious war.
Third Time
Al Jazeera correspondent Elias Karam reported that Ben-Gvir’s storming of the Temple Mount came on the occasion of the so-called anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, where Jews fast and perform prayers at the Western Wall.
More than a thousand settlers have reportedly stormed the Temple Mount, and a number of them performed Talmudic rituals in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest of all Muslim sites anywhere in the world.
The Ben-Gvir-led delegation was protected by a large Israeli security force.
This is the third time that the extremist Israeli politician storms Al-Aqsa since he joined the rightwing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the beginning of 2023.
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“This place is the most important place for the people of Israel, and to it we must return and show our sovereignty over it,” Ben- Gvir said about the storming of the Mosque.
He also participated last night, joined by Israeli Jewish settlers in a march in the Old City of Occupied Jerusalem.
The crowd raised Israeli flags and marched around the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
‘Religious War’
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa, calling for urgent international intervention.
This is “a provocative act and an official cover for Judaization plans,” the Palestinian ministry said.
Jordan also condemned the Israeli minister’s storming of the Mosque, warning of its “dangerous consequences”.
A spokesman for Hamas, Hazem Qassem said that these incursions are a dangerous escalation of the religious war waged by the occupation on Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stressed that what is happening in Al-Aqsa is an essential part of the ongoing aggressive Israeli attack against Jerusalem and holy sites.
(PC, AJA, AA)
