Al-Aqsa | Pakistan

Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir led hundreds of Israeli Jews into Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Thursday, breaching the site’s decades-old status quo as he marked a Jewish day of mourning. The visit coincided with Tisha B’Av, the Jewish fasting day commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which is being observed from Wednesday night through Thursday this year. AFP footage showed Ben Gvir and hundreds of fellow worshippers at the Al-Aqsa compound, including Jewish settlers who lined up from the early morning hours to enter the site, where many performed prayers. “Look at what’s happening here: Jews are praying and feel that they are the rightful owners here,” Ben Gvir said in a video filmed at the compound and posted on his Telegram channel. “Everywhere, people understand that the State of Israel is the sovereign authority. There is still more to do, and with God’s help, we will continue to move forward.” Located in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, the...

Israeli police said on Monday that they would deploy in force around the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramazan, which begins this week, as Palestinian officials accused Israel of imposing restrictions at the compound. Over the course of the month of fasting and prayer, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians traditionally attend prayers at Al-Aqsa — Islam’s third-holiest site, located in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed. Arad Braverman, a senior Jerusalem police officer, said forces would be deployed “day and night” across the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and in the surrounding area. He said thousands of police personnel would also be on duty for Friday prayers, which draw the largest crowds of worshippers. Braverman said police had recommended issuing 10,000 permits for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, who require special permission to enter Jerusalem. He did not say whether age limits would apply, adding that the final number of people would be...

Pakistan on Monday unequivocally condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem by Israeli ministers, calling Tel Aviv out for its “shameless actions which are inflaming tensions in Palestine and the wider region”. Early on Sunday, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, shielded by Israeli police, led a large group of illegal settlers in a provocative march and mass incursion into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, coinciding with the Jewish commemoration of Tisha B’Av, Anadolu Agency reported. According to the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, at least 1,251 illegal Israeli settlers stormed the mosque compound in the morning hours, performing Talmudic rituals, singing, and dancing under heavy police protection. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam after Makkah and Madina. Under a delicate decades-old “status quo” arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation, and Jews can visit but may not pray there...