JERUSALEM, September 28, 2026 (WAFA) – The Jerusalem Affairs Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) today warned of the dangers of an unprecedented escalation in violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque, coinciding with the so-called Sukkot holiday.

It said that the incursions by Israeli occupation Minister of Defense Israel Katz and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, along with the latter’s statement that they are “the sovereigns today at Al-Aqsa,” constitute a declaration of the end of the existing historical and legal status quo and pave the way for imposing new realities at the mosque by force of arms.

In a press statement, the department said that this official escalation comes within the framework of a systematic policy that has turned incursions into an organized political course. It noted that around 1,271 colonists had stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque since this morning, performing public prayers and rituals, including the Musaf prayer and rituals associated with the so-called “Temple Mount”, in addition to bringing in what are known as “plant offerings” and performing collective prostration rituals inside the mosque’s courtyards.

It stressed that the gravity of these developments lies not only in the number of those storming the mosque, but also in the attempt to impose a new “religious and political reality” by force, paving the way for the temporal and spatial division of the mosque and further heightening religious and political tensions in Jerusalem and the region.

The Jerusalem Affairs Department stressed that the occupation government’s continued pursuit of this course requires the international community and influential countries to take action and move beyond statements of condemnation to concrete steps to protect the existing historical and legal status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque and preserve the identity of Jerusalem and its Islamic holy sites.

T.R.