Israel’s Ben-Gvir breaks into Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque despite warnings

Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday morning despite warnings of escalation from Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Israeli Jewish supremacist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, breaks into the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, amid warnings the visit will inflame the security situation in the occupied territories. pic.twitter.com/sL0laO90og
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 3, 2023
BREAKING: Israeli Jewish supremacist Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir breaks into the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, amid tight security measures. pic.twitter.com/A89AAOEa9Y
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 3, 2023
Israel’s new government “will not give in to threats from Hamas,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement made after storming the site this morning, according to The Jerusalem Post.
“We [will] maintain freedom of movement for Muslims and Christians,” Ben-Gvir claimed, but added that “Jews will climb the mountain.”
“Those who make threats will be dealt with an iron fist,” Ben-Gvir further said.
Ben-Gvri broke into the holy site amid tight security measures. The break-in lasted for thirteen minutes, local sources reported.
He requested to break into the site on Monday claiming that the visit was intended to mark the fast of the Tenth of Tevet.
On Sunday, Ben-Gvir said he would visit the holy site in the near future. New Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly spoke with Ben-Gvir on Monday to discuss his intention to visit the site. The Likud confirmed that, following consultations with security establishment officials, Netanyahu did not object to Ben-Gvir’s break-in.
In response to Ben-Gvir’s Sunday remarks, Hamas warned that such a step will explode the situation.
“Any escalation in Al-Aqsa Mosque will explode the situation and the occupation government will be responsible for this,” Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said in a statement published Monday.
Israel’s opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid had warned that such a visit by Ben-Gvir would spark violence.
Following his break-in, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemns the storming of Al-Aqsa mosque by the extremist minister Ben-Gvir and views it as unprecedented provocation and a dangerous escalation of the conflict.”
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem also said the “crime of the fascist Zionist Ben-Gvir in breaking into Al-Aqsa Mosque is a continuation of the Zionist occupation’s aggression against our sanctity and our Arab identity.”
“The Palestinian people will continue to defend the sanctity of Al-Aqsa and to fight to cleanse it from the impurities of the occupation, and this battle will not stop until the final victory of our nation in expelling the occupier from all our lands,” he added.
Ben-Gvir’s last storming of the holy site took place last March and lasted about fifteen minutes.
Since 2014, stormings by Israeli occupation officials to the Al-Aqsa Mosque have been considered provocations and a threat to the status quo. Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s storming to the site in 2000 sparked the Second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising.
Ben-Gvir was sworn in last week as part of a new government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.