VIDEO: Ben-Gvir leads Al-Aqsa incursion on Jewish mourning day

More than 3,023 'Israeli' settlers stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem early Sunday, in one of the largest mass incursions witnessed this year. The provocative move coincided with the observance of Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the ancient temple.

Under tight protection by Israeli Occupation police, the settlers performed open Talmudic rituals, including what eyewitnesses described as “epic prostration” with loud chanting of Torah verses. The scenes unfolded particularly in the eastern section of the mosque compound, causing outrage among Muslim worshippers and Palestinians in the city.

The aggressive incursion aligns with a public campaign led by far-right 'Israeli' Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, who in June 2024 openly supported Jewish prayer inside the Al-Aqsa compound. In May 2025, he went further by sponsoring public singing and dancing in the sacred Islamic site.

Sources at the scene reported that settler numbers continued to climb throughout the morning, with hundreds more lining up at the wooden bridge entrance near the Moroccan Gate, waiting for their turn to enter.

Palestinian officials and religious leaders condemned the storming as a dangerous escalation and a blatant attempt to Judaize Al-Aqsa Mosque. The raid is being widely viewed as part of an 'Israeli' policy to impose a temporal and spatial division of the mosque, a move Palestinians say threatens the status quo of the holy site.