Netanyahu bans non-Muslim visits to al-Aqsa Mosque until end of Ramadan

A statement from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said that all Israeli settlers and non-Muslim visitors will be banned from the al-Aqsa Mosque complex until the end of Ramadan.

Following a meeting with senior military establishment officials on Tuesday, Netanyahu, along with military affairs minister Yoav Gallant and so-called national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, decided to prohibit the entry of Israeli settlers until the end of Ramadan, the holy month in which Muslims perform their fasting.

This decision, which has been made by Israel in previous years, came after hundreds of illegal Israeli settlers and far-right extremists stormed al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday under the protection of Israeli forces as Palestinians were blocked from accessing the site.

The extremist settlers entered the compound in groups led by extremist rabbi and former Knesset member Yehudah Glick, local sources reported.

According to local media reports, Israeli forces were deployed in al-Aqsa’s courtyards ahead of the storming of the site and harassed worshipers. Earlier on Monday, around one thousand illegal Israeli settlers stormed the courtyards of the mosque, attacked and harassed Palestinian worshipers, and raised the Israeli flag in defiance of the feelings of Muslims.

Tensions escalated across the occupied Palestinian territories after Israeli forces stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East al-Quds and forcibly removed worshipers last week.

The Israeli raids on the mosque prompted the Palestinian resistance factions to retaliate by firing rockets at settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip.

Hardline Israeli officials and settlers regularly storm the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied city, a provocative move that infuriates Palestinians.

Palestinians accuse Israel of systematically working to Judaise East al-Quds, where al-Aqsa Mosque is located, and obliterate its Arab and Islamic identity.

In this context, UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese said last week that "the well-known desire of Israeli settlers to either destroy the mosque or forcibly convert all or part of the compound into a synagogue, as happened to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, is a source of deep anxiety among Palestinians."

Illegal settler incursions under police protection to the al-Aqsa Mosque have been on the rise in recent years, during which many Palestinians have been injured, killed, or arrested.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque.

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