Extremist minister in the Israeli occupation government breaches the Al-Aqsa Mosque and performs Talmudic rituals

Ramallah, September 20 (KUNA) -- The Jerusalem Governorate said on Sunday that Israel’s so-called Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, breached the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under heavy military guard by the Israeli army and performed Jewish ritual practices in the eastern area of the compound. In turn, the Palestinian Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs strongly condemned the breach of Al-Aqsa by the extremist Ben-Gvir, accompanied by a number of settlers and protected by occupation forces. The ministry stressed in a press statement that these repeated breaches and provocative steps constitute a blatant violation of the sanctity of Islam’s holiest sites and a malicious attempt to impose a new reality and alter the historical and legal status quo at Al-Aqsa. It added that the continuation of these systematic violations fuels anger among Muslims worldwide and constitutes a blatant disregard for international laws and covenants that guarantee the respect of worshippers and the protection of holy sites. The ministry called on the international community, human rights organizations, and Arab and Islamic countries to assume their responsibilities and intervene immediately to pressure the occupation authorities to halt these ongoing violations and encroachments on the occupied capital and its Islamic and Christian holy sites. It emphasized that the entire area of Al-Aqsa Mosque, covering 144 dunams, is exclusively the right of Muslims, indivisible and without shared ownership. On the same day, a large force of the Israeli army breached the town of Budrus, northwest of Jerusalem, the hometown of Qadri Samara, whom the occupation claims carried out a shooting incident on Sunday near Ramallah that resulted in the death of an Israeli soldier. The Israeli army had claimed to have arrested Samara inside H-Clinic hospital in Ramallah after a special forces raid, and confiscated a vehicle parked outside the hospital, alleging it was used in carrying out the attack. Local sources said occupation forces surrounded worshippers at Abdullah ibn Jabir Mosque in Budrus while they were performing the afternoon prayer. (End) N.Q. / N.S.A.