OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Around 100 Jewish settlers stormed the courtyards of Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday morning under heavy protection from Israeli police and special forces, carrying out provocative tours and performing Talmudic rituals and prayers inside the compound.
Jerusalem sources said the settlers forced their way into Aqsa through the Magharibeh Gate, which has been under Israeli control since 1967. They received explanations about the so-called Temple before leaving through the al-Silsila Gate along predetermined routes.
At the same time, Israeli police imposed strict restrictions on young Palestinians and worshipers, preventing a number of them from entering Aqsa in order to facilitate the settlers’ incursions.
Settler groups continue to storm the Aqsa Mosque compound on a daily basis, except on Fridays and Saturdays, during morning and afternoon periods. The incursions have increasingly included Talmudic rituals, the raising of Israeli flags and what is known as “epic prostration.”
According to observers, these practices go beyond conventional visits and seek to impose new realities inside the Aqsa Mosque, as part of efforts to establish a temporal and spatial division of the holy site.
Israeli authorities have also intensified orders banning Palestinians from Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s Old City, targeting preachers, Mosque guards, employees of the Islamic Waqf, worshipers, activists and prominent Jerusalem figures.
On Tuesday, Israeli authorities renewed an order banning the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories and Aqsa Mosque preacher Sheikh Mohammed Hussein from the Mosque for six months, from 10 July 2026 until 10 January 2027.
According to the Jerusalem Governorate, Israeli authorities issued 17 orders banning Palestinians from Aqsa Mosque and the Old City during July, targeting religious figures, public personalities, journalists and Jerusalem residents, as part of a policy aimed at restricting the Palestinian presence at the holy site.
