JERUSALEM, August 3, 2025 (WAFA) – Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led a provocative incursion of colonists into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem on Sunday morning, accompanied by Likud Knesset member Amit Halevi.
According to the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem, at least 1,251 colonists stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque during the morning hours. The colonists performed rituals, including prayers, dances, and loud chants that echoed across the compound.
Earlier, just after midnight, Ben-Gvir also led a march of colonists through the Old City, marking what extremist Jewish groups refer to as the “anniversary of the destruction of the Temple.”
These groups had issued public calls for mass incursions by colonists into the Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday, aiming to commemorate the so-called anniversary of the destruction of the Temple.
This escalation follows a wave of incitement and recent policy changes, including Ben-Gvir’s controversial orders to police permitting colonists to sing and dance within the mosque compound — a step widely viewed as part of a broader strategy to impose new realities by force.
In May, Ben-Gvir publicly declared that Jewish “prayer and prostration are now possible on the Temple Mount,” in direct violation of the historic status quo upheld at the holy site.
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