Nearly 3,000 Zionist settlers, led by extremist minister Itamar Ben Gvir, stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday, sparking outrage among Palestinian people and resistance factions.
Islamic Waqf (Endowment), a joint Jordanian-Palestinian Islamic trust that manages the mosque’s affairs, announced on Tuesday that at least 2,958 settlers stormed the holy compound since morning, violating decades-old arrangements that stipulate only Muslims can worship at the site in Al-Quds’ (Jerusalem) Old City.
So-called National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, his fellow Otzma Yehudit minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Likud MK Amit Halevi were among the crowds who stormed Al-Aqsa.
Backed with dozens of Israeli police forces, Ben Gvir said: “Our policy is to allow Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount,” using the Jewish name to which Israelis refer to Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Under the leadership of the fascist Israeli minister of interior security Ben-Gvir Israeli settlers violated the status of the Aqsa mosque and conducted Jewish prayers in it trying to provoke religious war in the region. pic.twitter.com/RNpb5PBwi0
— Mustafa Barghouti @Mustafa_Barghouti (@MustafaBarghou1) August 13, 2024
Non-Muslims have been allowed to visit under the supervision of the Islamic Waqf. However, Israeli occupation authorities have long bypassed the Waqf, allowing Israeli settlers to storm the holy site under the protection of heavily armed forces, often preceded by the forceful removal of Muslim worshippers.
Resistance Warn
For its part, Palestinian resistance factions warned against the provocative move.
Hamas said storming Al-Aqsa Mosque “means going ahad with the aggression against our people as well as provoking the feelings of the Muslim nation.”
The Palestinian resistance group stressed, meanwhile, that such moves “won’t manage to Judaize the holy mosque or to change its Islamic identity.”
For its part, the Islamic Jihad movement warned that Ben Gvir’s move “inflames the ongoing war on Gaza, Al-Quds and the West Bank.”
“These incursions confirm that the Zionist plans to Judaize Al-Aqsa are ongoing and continuing.”
The Palestinian resistance group also slammed the international silence over the Israeli move, stressing that this behavior “means the complicity of the international community in the Israeli crimes” committed against Palestinian people.
Jordan, Egypt Condemn Move
On the other hand, Jordan strongly condemned the visit by Israeli officials to Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that their “provocation violates the status quo” on the holy site.
The visit “reflects the insistence of the Israeli government and its extremist members to disregard international law and Israel’s obligations as the occupying power,” a spokesman for Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
دانت وزارة الخارجية وشؤون المغتربين، إقدام وزيرين متطرفين من الحكومة الإسرائيلية وأعضاء من الكنيست، اليوم، على اقتحام المسجد الأقصى المبارك/ الحرم القدسي الشريف تحت حماية شرطة الاحتلال الإسرائيلي، تزامناً مع اقتحامات المتطرفين الإسرائيليين وممارساتهم الاستفزازية وفرض قيود على… pic.twitter.com/zwFGGK381W
— وزارة الخارجية وشؤون المغتربين الأردنية (@ForeignMinistry) August 13, 2024
Amman urged the international community to “firmly” condemn the visit, stating that the site is an exclusive place of worship for Muslims and is under the jurisdiction of the Jordanian Waqf, and that the Zionist entity has no sovereignty over the “occupied city of Al-Quds and its Islamic and Christian holy sites.”
Egypt, on its turn, condemned the visit, describing it as irresponsible.
“The Arab Republic of Egypt condemns the storming of the courtyards of the Al Aqsa mosque by two Israeli ministers, members of the Israel Knesset, hundreds of Israeli settlers and extremists, and the raising of the Israeli flag, under the protection of the Israeli police, while Palestinian worshipers were prevented from entering Al Aqsa,” a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs read.
The “irresponsible and provocative behavior” is in violation of the status quo on the site, the Egyptian ministry said, as it called on the international community to “play an active role in confronting these violations that stir up emotions and thwart efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Source: Palestinian and Israeli media (edited and translated by Al-Manar English Website)
