Ben-Gvir storms Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque again amid growing Israeli violations

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout and Tarek Chouiref

JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL (AA) – Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday stormed East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound once again under heavy police protection, a Palestinian agency said.

In a brief statement, the Islamic Endowments Directorate in Jerusalem said Ben-Gvir entered the mosque compound in the afternoon accompanied by Israeli police forces.

Such incursions by Ben-Gvir are typically carried out without prior public announcement. Israeli ministers are only permitted to enter the Al-Aqsa compound with advance approval from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Since assuming office in early 2023, Ben-Gvir has stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque around 14 times. Tuesday’s incursion marks his first entry into the compound in 2026.

The extremist minister has continued these provocations despite repeated Arab, Islamic and international condemnations.

Since 2003, Israeli police have allowed illegal Israeli settlers to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The Islamic Endowments Directorate in Jerusalem has repeatedly condemned these incursions and called for their immediate halt, without response from Israeli authorities.

According to a report by the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, illegal Israeli settlers carried out 280 incursions into the Al-Aqsa compound during 2025 alone.

A senior official at the Islamic Endowments Directorate, speaking to Anadolu on condition of anonymity, said more than 65,364 extremist settlers stormed the flashpoint site last year.

The report documented a sharp escalation in Israeli violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

It noted that Al-Aqsa incursions were accompanied by the open performance of Talmudic rituals inside the compound, including full prostration, blowing of horns, wearing prayer garments, and organized group prayers at specific times and locations, in what it described as a clear attempt to impose temporal and spatial division at the mosque.

The ministry said these incursions were carried out under the supervision and protection of Israeli police, who routinely prevent Al-Aqsa guards affiliated with the Islamic Endowments Directorate from performing their duties inside the courtyards.

Palestinians say Israel is intensifying efforts to Judaize occupied East Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and erase its Arab and Islamic identity.

The ministry also documented attacks by extremist Jewish groups against Christian pilgrims, including spitting, harassment and obstruction of access to the Church of the Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during religious holidays.

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

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.

In a landmark opinion issued in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.