Ben Gvir Breaches Al-Aqsa Mosque: 'We Are the Owners of This Place!'

Occupied Jerusalem – Agencies: Settler militias stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound yesterday morning under the protection of the Israeli occupation police, coinciding with the closure of the Ibrahimi Mosque to Palestinians due to Jewish holidays. The incursion was led by Israel’s extremist National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who declared from within the Al-Aqsa compound, “We are the owners of the place in Al-Aqsa and in the prisons, and we have turned the lives of the imprisoned martyrs into hell.” He added, “The people of Israel are on the path to absolute victory, and we are praying in Al-Aqsa today, which is the most important place for the Jewish people,” according to his claim.

The Jerusalem Municipality stated that Israel Katz, the Defense Minister in the settler-led government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, stormed the perimeter of the Al-Aqsa Mosque alongside thousands of settlers. The municipality noted that the occupation authorities closed intersections and streets surrounding the Old City leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to secure the movement of settlers on the third day of the Jewish Sukkot holiday. It further reported that settlers performed circles of dancing and singing inside the Al-Aqsa courtyards during the incursion, noting that 900 settlers entered the Al-Aqsa courtyards during the morning hours.

In the same context, the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs stated in a press release that the closure of the Ibrahimi Mosque includes prohibiting prayer and the call to prayer (Adhan) at the shrine, paving the way for “settlers to take control of it and desecrate it” during the Jewish holidays. The ministry affirmed that these practices constitute a “blatant violation” of the sanctity of the Ibrahimi Mosque and an infringement on freedom of worship and the right of Muslims to practice their religious rituals, emphasizing that the mosque is “exclusively an Islamic waqf.” It warned against the danger of continuing Israeli measures and attempts to impose temporal and spatial segregation at the mosque. It also characterized this as a “dangerous precedent in encroaching upon Islamic holy sites” and held the occupation authorities fully responsible for the consequences of these policies.

The ministry called on the international community, human rights and humanitarian institutions, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to intervene urgently to pressure the occupation authorities to stop the ongoing violations of the Islamic waqf and religious holy sites, and to protect freedom of worship in all holy places.

A resident of Hebron told Al Jazeera channel that Palestinian students were prevented from reaching their schools during these Jewish holidays. He clarified that settlers had proceeded to raise new Israeli flags above the minarets of the Ibrahimi Mosque, as part of continuous efforts to change the Islamic character of the site.