Netanyahu tours tunnels beneath Al-Aqsa as Ben Gvir raids Jerusalem holy site - Middle East Eye

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured tunnels beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque as hundreds of Israeli settlers raided the Jerusalem holy site over the weekend.

Ahead of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Netanyahu joined tens of thousands of Israelis for Selichot prayers at the Western Wall, adjacent to Al-Aqsa, on Saturday night.

The prime minister later posted a video of himself and his wife, Sara, touring tunnels beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

“It is moving to touch the rock of our existence. We are here very close to the Holy of Holies,” he said.

“We are here, and we will always remain here.”

Tens of thousands of people attended Selichot prayers at the Western Wall plaza, including Israeli government ministers and officials.

On Sunday morning, hundreds of Israelis raided Al-Aqsa, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Ben Gvir was filmed praying alongside other Israelis inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex under heavy police protection.

The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate said around 800 people raided the site on Sunday. 

The incursions came amid heightened Israeli security measures in Jerusalem’s Old City and around Al-Aqsa, with a heavy police presence deployed as the Jewish holiday season got under way.

The Jerusalem Governorate said Israeli forces had turned the Old City into a “military barracks” to secure settlers’ access to the area around Al-Aqsa. 

Further incursions were recorded on Monday, with more than 400 people taking part in morning raids, according to Palestinian authorities.

The Muslim World League strongly condemned the raids.

Its secretary-general, Dr Muhammad Al-Issa, “denounced the provocative practices that inflame the sentiments of Muslims around the world” in a statement on Monday. 

He called on the international community to halt what he described as repeated violations of the mosque and its legal status quo.

The status quo refers to a decades-old arrangement governing access to and management of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Under the arrangement, the entire 144-dunam (14.4-hectare) compound is recognised as an Islamic holy site.

Responsibility for access, prayer arrangements, maintenance and excavations falls to the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, the religious trust that administers the mosque.

Since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, however, it has steadily sidelined the Waqf and undermined the status quo through measures including allowing near-daily incursions and Jewish prayer at the site.