Far-right Israeli minister Ben Gvir storms Al-Aqsa mosque compound with hundreds of followers

Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir led hundreds of Israeli Jews into Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Thursday, breaching the site’s decades-old status quo as he marked a Jewish day of mourning.

The visit coincided with Tisha B’Av, the Jewish fasting day commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which is being observed from Wednesday night through Thursday this year.

AFP footage showed Ben Gvir and hundreds of fellow worshippers at the Al-Aqsa compound, including Jewish settlers who lined up from the early morning hours to enter the site, where many performed prayers.

“Look at what’s happening here: Jews are praying and feel that they are the rightful owners here,” Ben Gvir said in a video filmed at the compound and posted on his Telegram channel.

“Everywhere, people understand that the State of Israel is the sovereign authority. There is still more to do, and with God’s help, we will continue to move forward.”

Located in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, the compound is revered as Islam’s third holiest site and, simultaneously, as Judaism’s most sacred location, where the two ancient temples once stood.

Access is governed by a decades-old “status quo” arrangement between Israel and Jordan, whose religious foundation administers the site. Under that arrangement, Jews may visit but are not permitted to pray there, while Muslim worship is meant to continue uninterrupted.

In recent years, however, Ben Gvir and other Jewish visitors have repeatedly tested and breached those limits, including through open prayer at the compound, drawing condemnation from Jordan, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and Muslim religious bodies.

Jordan denounced Ben Gvir’s latest visit to the compound.

“Jordan firmly rejects and strongly condemns the continued incursions by Israeli officials, Knesset members and extremist settlers into Al-Aqsa mosque, as well as the role of Israeli police in facilitating these actions,” foreign ministry spokesperson Fouad Al-Majali said in a statement on Thursday.

He described the actions as “unacceptable attempts to impose new realities at Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif through efforts to alter its existing arrangements”.

Turkiye also slammed Ben Gvir’s visit.

“We remind the international community that it is a shared responsibility to prevent the Netanyahu government’s provocative actions and attempts to create faits accomplis, which violate the historical and legal status of holy sites in Jerusalem, particularly Al-Aqsa Mosque, which belongs exclusively to Muslims,” the Turkish foreign ministry said.

The Israeli government has publicly maintained that its policy on the status quo remains unchanged, even as incidents like Thursday’s continue to inflame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Since taking office, Ben Gvir has stormed the site more than a dozen times, and has previously used Tisha B’av gatherings to call for tougher action against Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Beyond marking the temples’ destruction, the day of fasting is traditionally tied to a string of calamities said to have befallen the Jewish people on or near the same date throughout history.