Ben Gvir Storms Al-Aqsa Again Amidst Palestinian Condemnation and Calls for Vigilance to Counter Judaization

The far-right Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, stormed the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem this Sunday morning, under tight protection from occupation forces and special forces. This provocative move comes amidst an intensive security deployment by the occupation police, who secured the route for settlers' incursions, sparking a widespread wave of Palestinian anger that considered the incident a deliberate desecration of holy sites.

Field sources reported that Ben Gvir performed Talmudic prayers and participated in chanting rituals at the Dome of the Rock prayer hall and the Western Arcade area, in a blatant challenge to the historical status quo. This incursion is Ben Gvir's sixteenth since assuming the National Security portfolio, and his third since the beginning of this year 2026, reflecting a determination to change the religious reality in the mosque.

For his part, Ben Gvir stated from within the mosque's courtyards: 'Today we feel that we are the owners of the place, and we still have much to do and improve here,' in a clear reference to the occupation government's efforts to impose full sovereignty over Al-Aqsa. These statements coincided with groups of settlers performing provocative rituals aimed at consecrating the temporal and spatial division between Muslims and Jews.

In an official reaction, the Palestinian Presidency described the incursion as a 'blatant violation' of the legal and historical status of Al-Aqsa Mosque, warning of the repercussions of this dangerous escalation on security and stability in the region. The Presidency affirmed that Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of 144 dunams, is an exclusive right of Muslims alone, and the occupation has no sovereignty over any part of the city of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority called on the international community to take a firm stance that obliges the occupation authorities to stop their unilateral measures in occupied Jerusalem. It indicated that these practices fall within a systematic policy to Judaize the holy city and change its Arab and Islamic features, calling on international parties to assume their legal and moral responsibilities towards protecting holy sites.

In turn, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) called on the masses of the Palestinian people to travel and stand firm in Al-Aqsa Mosque to thwart the occupation's Judaization schemes. The movement said in a statement that the repeated incursions by Ben Gvir reflect full support from the occupation government for extremist settler groups seeking to demolish Al-Aqsa and build the alleged Temple in its place.

Hamas stressed that these aggressions will not change the true identity of the mosque, but will increase the determination of Palestinians to defend their holy sites by all available means. It also called on the Arab and Islamic nations to take serious action and pressure the occupation to force it to stop desecrating the holy Al-Aqsa Sanctuary, affirming that Jerusalem will remain the axis of conflict and the qibla of resistance.

On the ground, occupation forces launched a wide arrest campaign that included 18 Palestinians from various areas in the West Bank and Jerusalem, among them Raed Zaghir, head of the cleaning department at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Medical teams also recorded 7 Palestinians injured by occupation bullets during clashes that erupted in the towns of Al-Ram, Al-Dhahiriya, and Nablus, coinciding with the tension in the occupied capital.

In the context of restricting Jerusalemites, the occupation authorities forced citizen Mahmoud Al-Tawil to self-demolish his home in Silwan town south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, under threat of exorbitant fines. This policy comes within the occupation's continuous attempts to empty the city of its original inhabitants in favor of settlement expansion, which has accelerated recently.

For its part, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the incursion, describing it as a 'condemnable provocative act,' affirming the Kingdom's absolute rejection of attempts to change the status quo in the holy Al-Aqsa Sanctuary. The Jordanian statement stressed that the Jerusalem Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department is the sole authority with exclusive jurisdiction over managing the affairs of the sanctuary and regulating entry to it.

Statistics indicate an escalation in the pace of Israeli violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem since October 2023, with 1148 Palestinians martyred and over 11,000 others injured. Arrests also reached a record number, exceeding 22,000 cases, indicating an iron security grip that the occupation is trying to impose in parallel with repeated incursions into holy sites.

This escalation comes at a time when the region is still recovering from the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran last February, which lasted 40 days. Observers believe that the occupation is trying to exploit the current regional circumstances to accelerate the pace of Judaizing Jerusalem and impose new realities on the ground that will be difficult to reverse in the future.

Since 2003, the occupation police have continued to facilitate settler incursions into Al-Aqsa despite strong opposition from the Islamic Endowments Department and the international community. However, the pace of these violations has taken a dangerous upward trend since the far-right took power in Israel, with ministers openly participating in storming the mosque and performing rituals there.

In conclusion, Al-Aqsa Mosque remains an open arena of confrontation between the will of the steadfast Palestinians and the occupation's plans aimed at full control over it. Popular activities in Jerusalem confirm that defending Al-Aqsa is a national and religious duty that cannot be relinquished, no matter the sacrifices or the increased intensity of Israeli repression in the holy city.

Today we feel that we are the owners of the place, and we still have much to do and improve here.