Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led thousands of Israeli occupiers to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem Thursday morning.
Over 3,200 Israeli occupiers stormed the compound as they marked the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, commemorating what they call the "destruction of the Temple."
The Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem said in a statement that the occupiers entered the compound in the morning and more were expected after noon prayers.
Videos circulated by Israeli right-wing activists showed occupiers performing collective prayers opposite the Dome of the Rock. Another clip showed the Israeli flag being raised inside the compound as participants sang the Israeli national anthem in the presence of Israeli police.
Earlier, the Jerusalem Governorate said in a Facebook post that Israeli police allowed the number of occupiers entering the compound in each group to increase to around 150.
Israeli forces imposed tight restrictions at the mosque’s gates and around Jerusalem’s Old City, deploying heavily across its courtyards and preventing Palestinian worshippers from entering, it added.
Only a very limited number of Palestinians managed to reach the mosque for dawn prayers before Israeli forces assaulted several worshippers and other residents, the statement said.
The governorate said occupiers "performed Talmudic rituals during the incursions, including wearing tefillin, carrying out full prostrations in the eastern section of the compound and chanting loudly."
It added that "extremist groups advocating the construction of a Jewish temple at the site were mobilizing supporters in an effort to bring 5,000 occupiers into the compound" during Thursday’s incursions.
The Jerusalem Governorate condemned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s storming of the compound as a "dangerous escalation" and a "flagrant violation" of its historical and legal status quo.
It said the move was part of "systematic targeting of Islamic holy sites" and attempts to impose new realities at the mosque.
The governorate said Ben-Gvir’s participation, alongside incursions by occupiers and groups advocating the construction of a "Jewish temple” at the site, marked a "dangerous shift” from attacks by extremist groups to the Israeli government’s official adoption of such actions.
It warned that the violations could have repercussions for regional security and stability, and urged the international community and international institutions to act to halt them.
The governorate stressed that the entire 144-dunam (35.6-acre) Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is "an exclusively Islamic place of worship,” saying any measures aimed at changing its identity or historical and legal status are "invalid and illegitimate."
Likud party lawmaker Amit Halevi also stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Thursday morning.
Israeli left-wing group Peace Now described the events in a post on the U.S. social media company X as a "dangerous provocation” at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
It said collective Jewish prayers at the site, "where prayer is prohibited" under the long-standing status quo, constituted a "blatant violation of the fragile status quo."
Peace Now accused Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Settlements Minister Orit Strock of providing those groups with "support, funding and protection.”
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
