Israeli crowds have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, as well as villages in the occupied West Bank, as they marked a Jewish holiday.
Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led a crowd of thousands into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday and performed prayers. Despite Jewish religious rites being banned at the location, Israeli police reportedly offered protection, as well as to illegal settlers involved in violence in the West Bank.
Ben-Gvir promised to “defeat Hamas” in Gaza in a video he filmed during his visit and prayers.
Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third holiest site and a symbol of Palestinian national identity but it is also Judaism’s holiest place. Tisha B’Av is a Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the site of an ancient temple by the Romans in 70 AD.
Ben-Gvir, who heads a hardline political party on which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government depends, led more than 2,000 Israelis through the compound singing Jewish hymns under the protection of Israeli police, an official from the Waqf, the Jordanian body that is custodian of the site, told AFP.
“Minister Ben-Gvir, instead of maintaining the status quo at the mosque is supervising the Judaisation operation and trying to change the situation inside Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the official said.
Israeli police also “imposed restrictions” on Muslim worshippers trying to enter the mosque, he added.
Minister of Negev and Galilee Affairs Yitzhak Wasserlauf and other members of the Israeli Knesset reportedly joined the march.
The US criticised Ben-Gvir, saying he had hurt efforts for talks toward a Gaza ceasefire.
“Not only is it unacceptable, it detracts from what we think is a vital time, as we are working to get this ceasefire deal across the finish line,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement: “These provocative actions only exacerbate tensions at a pivotal moment when all focus should be on the ongoing diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement and secure the release of all hostages and create the conditions for broader regional stability.”
The United Nations also denounced Ben-Gvir for leading prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, calling the move “unduly provocative”.
“We are against any efforts to change the status quo within the holy sites,” deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
“Al-Aqsa mosque, like the other holy sites in Jerusalem, should be left to themselves and should be controlled by the existing religious authorities for the sites. This sort of behaviour is unhelpful and it is unduly provocative.”
West Bank tension
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers mounted a series of marches to mark the day, according to local media.
“[The settlers] are using the fact that there is a religious holiday and religious commemoration to … lay claim to more Palestinian land,” Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reported from Ramallah.
She said that people in one village, at-Tawani, had told her that it was the largest settler invasion that the community has seen thus far, in what has become a regular occurrence.
“We’ve seen it before. Settlers use the fact that they have a religious ceremony and they try and conduct those ceremonies in occupied territory,” Ibrahim continued, noting that village compounds are often invaded during such events.
Tension and violence between Isreal settlers, police and the military on one side, and Palestinian armed groups and civilians on the other, has spiked since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October.
The Palestinian Authority that administers parts of the West Bank says that more than 624 Palestinians, including 145 children, have been killed. Thousands have been arrested or forced from their homes due to demolitions and land confiscations, over the past 10 months.
At least 18 Israelis, including 12 security forces personnel, have also been killed in the occupied territory.
Early on Tuesday, Israeli forces killed a young Palestinian man and injured at least four others when they raided the homes of Palestinian prisoners and demolished two apartments in the cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh, local media reported.
Moataz Sarsour, a resident of the al-Am’ari refugee camp in the Ramallah and el-Bireh area, died of his injuries at the Palestine Medical Complex, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Wafa did not provide further details on the condition of three other gunshot victims or a young man hit by an Israeli army vehicle during the predawn raids.
Impunity
Israel is intensifying its violent raids in the occupied West Bank and attempting to shift the “status quo” of East Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the world’s focus remains on the Gaza war, said Hassan Barari, a professor of international affairs at Qatar University.
“[Settlers] think that is a kind of a golden opportunity, that the region is in turmoil and the government is the [most] extremist in history … and they want to exploit this in order to change the status quo [of] the mosque,” Barari told Al Jazeera.
“The international community is either complicit or indifferent to what is happening in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” he added, noting that Western leaders issue empty condemnations with little action.
“Israel feels it has impunity to do whatever it wants in the West Bank.”
