Hamas condemns Netanyahu’s illegal entry into Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has slammed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's illegal entry into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East al-Quds, Palestine.

On Sunday morning, Netanyahu released videos and photographs on social media showing his participation in a Jewish ceremony the night before in the tunnels lying underneath occupied East al-Quds’ bustling Old City and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

In a statement on social media, the Palestinian resistance ​​​​​group condemned Netanyahu's illegal entry into the Islamic holy site. 

Netanyahu's incursion “into the tunnels and excavation sites beneath the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Al-Buraq Wall, accompanied by provocative statements, constitutes a flagrant assault on its identity and status.” 

“Al-Aqsa Mosque – in its entirety including its courtyards, prayer halls, walls, and gates – will remain an exclusively Islamic mosque,” Hamas emphasized.

Hamas went on to state the factual evidence pointing to the Islamic identity of the holy site

“This is an established fact: the occupation’s excavations, incursions, rituals and attempts to impose its Biblical narrative will never succeed in altering the site’s identity – or obliterating its landmarks.”

Netanyahu, several ministers and thousands of Israelis entered the Western Wall yard in occupied East al-Quds amid tight security on Sunday.

The al-Quds governorate said in a statement that thousands of Israeli occupiers entered the yard after passing through Wadi Street in the Old City.

The governorate added that the entry was followed by calls for prayers and religious rituals at the Gate of Mercy, one of the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque. It noted that large numbers of Palestinians had come to the area to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque and shop in the Old City.

It encouraged Palestinians to come to Al-Aqsa Mosque to counter occupiers' incursions and "thwart the occupation's plans" as Yom Kippur, one of Judaism's major religious observances, approaches.

The Israeli regime forces control the Western Wall, citing its importance as a Jewish holy site repeatedly stormed by Israelis on various occasions.

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The al-Quds Jerusalem Islamic Waqf Administration and the governorate say the Western Wall is part of the Islamic holy sites.

The Western Wall plaza, which Israeli authorities keep open around the clock, hosts religious ceremonies, prayers and official Israeli events. Security checks and searches are conducted at entrances.

The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall (Ḥā'it al-Burāq in Arabic), is an ancient praying place for Jews.

However, the Zionists have been pushing a claim to actual ownership of the Wall.

Their claim is rejected, as the Wall is an integral part of the enclosure wall of the Haram al Sharif, and the yard in front of it is a public way and part of the premises of the Abu Midian Waqf.

Authorities always stop Jews from hanging anything on the Wall or placing benches or chairs in front of it, thus causing an obstruction in the public's way and implying ownership.

Some Jews insist on inserting slips of paper with prayers on them into the crevices between the stones in the wall, which has damaged the structure.

Palestinians have for centuries defended the al-Aqsa Mosque Compound's Islamic heritage.

The efforts by the Israeli regime and contemporary plots by Zionists for the division or Judaization of the holy Islamic site -- which is mentioned in the Muslim book, the Holy Quran, and known by Muslims as the first Qiblah -- have always been thwarted.

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