More than 200 Israeli settlers, accompanied by a rabbi, entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday under police protection, according to a Waqf official.

An official from the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem, who asked to remain anonymous, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that "215 extremists stormed the mosque during the morning and afternoon prayers."

Video footage showed a rabbi storming the mosque in religious attire.

In a statement, the Jerusalem Governorate, an official Palestinian body, expressed its "rejection and condemnation of the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israeli Rabbi Tzinov, and his performance of Talmudic prayers on the stairs leading to the Dome of the Rock."

The governorate called the incursion "a blatant violation of the sanctity of the site and a provocation of the feelings of Muslims worldwide."

It emphasized that "these practices are part of the ongoing escalation and systematic violations against Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem."

Since 2003, Israeli police have allowed Israeli occupiers to enter the mosque compound despite repeated protests from the Islamic Waqf Department, which oversees the site.

Since Ben-Gvir took office as Israel’s national security minister at the end of 2022, Israeli violations at the mosque have increased.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Palestinians say Israel is intensifying measures aimed at Judaizing occupied East Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and erasing its Arab and Islamic identity.

Palestinians say East Jerusalem should serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state, based on international resolutions that do not recognize Israel’s occupation of the city in 1967 or its annexation in 1980.

*Writing by Rasa Evrensel in Istanbul