Israel has banned Jewish visitors and non-Muslim tourists from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to a statement made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Tuesday.
A violent Israeli police raid at the site last week escalated tensions, amid claims of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria that were met with Israeli strikes. In previous years Israel has banned Jewish visits to the compound in the last 10 days of Ramadan.
Recently, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog that tensions in the area must be de-escalated and that Muslim worshippers should be able to practice I'tikaf, which involves isolation in a mosque in the last 10 days of Ramadan.
Palestinians accuse Israel of systematically working to Judaize East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, and obliterate its Arab and Islamic identity.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third-holiest site. Jews, for their part, call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two ancient Jewish temples.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.
Each year, Israeli forces ramp up violent and oppressive policies against Palestinians during the month of Ramadan.
