Jerusalem, April 9, 2026 (WAFA) – Israeli colonists, under the protection of Israeli occupation police, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Thursday, amid an unprecedented extension of the permitted hours for such incursions.
The Jerusalem Governorate reported that the colonists performed Talmudic songs and prayers within the Al-Aqsa courtyards. These incursions took place during the morning hours, under the protection of the occupation forces.
The Governorate stated that these incursions constitute a dangerous escalation that undermines the historical and legal status quo of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and represents a blatant provocation of the feelings of Muslims in Jerusalem, Palestine, and the world at large. The colonists stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque this morning, coinciding with the implementation of the new extension to the morning incursions, which began at 6:30 AM instead of 7:00 AM as was previously the practice.
The governorate explained that these incursions came after the so-called "Temple Mount organizations" announced an extension of the incursion times by an additional half hour, from 6:30 to 11:30 a.m., and then from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m., bringing the total to six and a half hours daily.
It emphasized that this extension reflects an acceleration in imposing new realities within the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and entrenching the policy of temporal division, especially following its reopening after a 40-day closure.
It is worth noting that the incursions of colonists into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque date back to 2003, when they began on a daily basis under the protection of the occupation forces, before moving in 2008 to a more organized stage by allocating specific times for them. At the beginning, they were only three morning hours from 7:00 to 10:00, and since then, these times have gradually expanded year after year, within a systematic policy to impose a new reality inside the mosque, until today they have reached about six and a half hours daily, in the context of consolidating the temporal division and seeking to impose it completely.
K.T
