Israel\u2019s far-right national \u200csecurity minister storms the mosque compound under the protection of settlers, drawing condemnation from Palestinians.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 12 Apr 2026<\/span>12 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Israel\u2019s far-right National \u200cSecurity Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound \u2060in occupied East Jerusalem\u2019s Old \u2060City \u2013 his third incursion into Islam\u2019s third holiest site this year \u2013 as Israel arrested at least 18 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Sunday.<\/p>\n Accompanied by Israeli settlers under heavy protection from Israeli forces, Ben-Gvir offered Jewish prayers at the site, which is not allowed for non-Muslims as part of the status quo arrangement in place since 1967, though Jewish people are permitted to visit the compound.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n A statement from Jordan\u2019s Foreign Ministry said it considered Ben-Gvir\u2019s visit to be a violation of the status quo agreement at the site and \u201ca desecration of its sanctity, a condemnable escalation and \u2060an unacceptable provocation\u201d.<\/p>\n The Palestinian Authority\u2019s presidency has also condemned the storming of the mosque compound, which has become more frequent in recent years.<\/p>\n In a statement, the presidency said the move was a blatant violation of the historical and legal status quo at the holy site, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.<\/p>\n Ben-Gvir, who has stormed the mosque compound at least 16 times since taking office in 2022, is part of a growing settler movement that wants to take over the Al-Aqsa Mosque, with the far-right Israeli minister having expressed his intention to build a Jewish synagogue in place of the holy Muslim site.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, I feel like the owner here,\u201d Ben-Gvir said in a video filmed at the site and distributed by his office. \u201cThere is still more to do, more to improve. I keep pushing the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] to do more and more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n There has been no comment from Netanyahu\u2019s office so far.<\/p>\n Israel had closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the public for 40 days after launching its war on Iran on February 28. Israel often imposes restrictions, especially on Palestinian worshippers, with Israeli authorities also preventing Eid al-Fitr prayers at Al-Aqsa this year \u2013 the first such restriction since Israel\u2019s illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.<\/p>\n The mosque reopened on April 9 to Palestinian worshippers. But later that day, Israeli settlers stormed the compound and performed Talmudic rituals, under the protection of Israeli police, Wafa reported.<\/p>\n Wafa also said that Israeli authorities had extended the daily windows for Israeli settler incursions by an additional 30 minutes.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Israeli raids have continued across the occupied West Bank, with at least 18 people arrested on Sunday.<\/p>\n Wafa said Israel arrested six Palestinians during a raid on Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n A \u00a0child and a young man were also injured by Israeli forces during a raid on the city of Nablus.<\/p>\n Attacks by Israeli forces across Gaza and the occupied West Bank have continued, along with Israel\u2019s wars on Iran and Lebanon.<\/p>\n The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, with thousands forcibly displaced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Israel\u2019s far-right national \u200csecurity minister storms the mosque compound under the protection of settlers, drawing condemnation from Palestinians. Published On 12 Apr 202612 Apr 2026 Israel\u2019s far-right National \u200cSecurity Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound \u2060in occupied East Jerusalem\u2019s Old \u2060City \u2013 his third incursion into Islam\u2019s third holiest site this year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg?resize=96%2C96&quality=80)
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