OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
Far-right Israeli security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and dozens of Jewish settlers desecrated the Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem under tight police guard on Sunday morning.
According to local sources, Ben Gvir, escorted by police officers, and groups of settlers entered the Mosque through its Maghariba Gate and toured its courtyards.
Ben Gvir and a number of settlers provocatively performed Talmudic prayers during their presence in the Islamic holy site, especially near the Dome of the Rock.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation police prevented Muslim worshipers from entering their holy site during Ben Gvir’s tour and imposed movement restrictions on Palestinian citizens in and around the holy city.
Earlier in the morning, Israeli police forces stormed the Aqsa Mosque and forced Muslim worshipers to leave it immediately after they finished performing the dawn prayers.
The Israeli occupation police have extended the period of settler tours at the Aqsa Mosque compound by 30 minutes, totaling 6.5 hours daily following a 40-day closure. Settler tours now run from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., amid tight restrictions limiting Muslim access to the holy site.
In a related context, the Hamas Movement has strongly denounced the repeated break-ins by Ben Gvir at the Aqsa Mosque.
In a statement, Hamas said that Ben Gvir’s desecration of the Aqsa Mosque reflects his government’s criminal agenda and its insistence on advancing Judaization projects in the holy city.
Hamas also described Ben Gvir’s desecration of the Mosque as a “provocation to Muslims worldwide” and a “blatant violation of its Islamic sanctity.”
The Movement expressed its belief that such Israeli violations cannot change the fact that the Aqsa Mosque belongs exclusively to the Muslim nation, stressing that all settlement and Judaization projects would be doomed to failure.
