It's Ben-Gvir's fifth visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque complex since 2022
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir forced his way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday, marking a new provocation amid the ongoing war on Gaza.
Ben-Gvir entered the site under heavy police protection and toured the mosque's courtyard, said an official with the Jordan-run Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem.
This was the extremist minister's fifth visit to the flashpoint complex since he joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in 2022.
It coincided with the week-long Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which started on Thursday.
The National Democratic Alliance, an Israeli Arab party, condemned Ben-Gvir's tour of the Al-Aqsa complex as a “deliberate provocation to the sentiments of Arabs and Muslims around all the world.”
The party called on Palestinians to intensify their presence and visits to the mosque.
Since 2003, Israel has allowed illegal settlers into the flashpoint compound on an almost daily basis with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
