OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Hamas Movement said that the storming of the Aqsa Mosque by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir constitutes a “blatant assault” and a deliberate provocation, stressing that it falls within a systematic policy aimed at desecrating Islamic holy sites and imposing new facts on the ground to Judaize Occupied Jerusalem.
In a statement on Tuesday, Hamas said the raid demonstrates the extremist right-wing Israeli government’s insistence on continuing its “religious war” against Aqsa Mosque and the holy city, taking advantage of what it described as the “weak and muted” Arab and Islamic responses to previous incursions.
Hamas warned of the consequences of this escalation, affirming that Aqsa is a “red line” and that the Palestinian people will continue to defend it against attempts to impose a new reality by force.
The Movement also called on Palestinians in Occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank, and within the 1948-occupied territories to mobilize and remain stationed at Aqsa Mosque as part of a grassroots resistance to Israel’s policies.
Additionally, Hamas urged Arab and Islamic nations and the international community to shoulder their legal and moral responsibilities and take immediate action to halt ongoing violations against Islamic holy sites and Palestinian lands.
On Tuesday, Ben Gvir stormed the Aqsa Mosque under heavy police protection.
Local sources reported that dozens of Jewish settlers, under military protection, also stormed the Mosque’s courtyards, performing Talmudic rituals and provocative acts.
In a related development, settlers on Monday reportedly held Jewish prayers inside the Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards, under the pretext of mourning the death of Zionist archaeologist Gabi Barkai, a flagrant violation of the Mosque’s sanctity and the established historical and legal status quo.
The Jerusalem Governorate stressed that these acts are part of a continuing series of violations, where extremist “Temple Mount” groups exploit various occasions, holidays, memorials, religious rituals, and weddings, to impose Jewish prayers and celebrations inside holy Islamic site, under the protection of Israeli police.
The Governorate added that Barkai was one of the main figures involved in the project to sift through Aqsa Mosque’s soil and steal its artifacts, in a direct attack on Islamic heritage. Settlers reportedly even scattered soil and stones from the Mosque over his grave.
The statement emphasized that these practices are not isolated or personal religious acts but part of a systematic colonial policy aimed at normalizing Judaization rituals and events inside the Aqsa Mosque.
Separately, Israeli authorities issued a notice to close the UNRWA-run Al-Zawiya Clinic, located near Herod’s Gate in Jerusalem, for one month, from January 11 to February 11, in what is seen as an effort to undermine health services in the city, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.
The notice also included a “threat to cut off water and electricity to the clinic if it reopens after the closure,” posing serious risks to the right to healthcare and directly impacting the most vulnerable residents of Jerusalem.
Earlier, the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs reported that, in 2025 alone, Jewish settlers, under police protection, had stormed the Aqsa Mosque 280 times. Meanwhile, Israel has prevented the Muslim call to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil 769 times.
The ministry’s annual report noted that the Aqsa incursions involved public Talmudic rituals inside the Mosque’s courtyards, including prostrations, shofar blowing, wearing of prayer shawls, and collective prayers at designated locations and times, as part of an increasingly entrenched policy of spatial and temporal division of the Mosque.
