Nearly 200 illegal Israeli settlers have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem under the protection of Israeli police, the Jerusalem Governorate said.
In a statement, it said 182 settlers forced their way into the sacred site during the morning and evening incursions, performing Talmudic rituals near the Dome of the Rock.
It added that 778 foreign tourists entered the mosque complex through a gate operated by Israeli authorities.
According to official figures, 4,266 illegal settlers and about 15,000 foreign tourists accessed the compound during November.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the city in 1980, a move rejected by the international community.
A recurring Israeli policy
Al-Aqsa Mosque has long witnessed repeated incursions by Israeli settlers under the protection of occupation forces, often carried out through the Moroccan Gate, which has been controlled by Israeli police since 1967.
Jerusalem institutions say these incursions — involving provocative tours and the performance of Talmudic rituals — are part of attempts to impose a temporal and spatial division at the Mosque.
The Islamic Waqf maintains that the entire 144-dunum compound is an exclusively Muslim place of worship.
