23 July 2026
More than 4,200 Israeli settlers and members of far-right groups have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem in one of the largest incursions this year as they mark a Jewish holiday, Palestinian officials say.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also entered the site under heavy police protection on Thursday for Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning that marks the destruction twice of an ancient Jewish temple believed to have stood at the site known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The Palestinian administration of the Jerusalem governorate said 4,288 Israelis had so far entered the compound.
This number was expected to keep rising until sundown, perhaps reaching 5,000, the governorate said, which would exceed the numbers recorded in previous years during the same Jewish holiday.
Palestinian officials said Israeli forces imposed tight restrictions at the mosque’s gates, barred large numbers of Palestinian worshippers and students from entering, and assaulted several worshippers.
Israeli settlers performed Talmudic rituals inside the compound, including prostrating themselves, singing and praying, the Jerusalem governorate said.
Source: Aljazeera
