Far-right Israeli minister prays at the Mosque Esplanade in East Jerusalem, denouncing a "dangerous escalation"

Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir traveled early in the morning to the highly sensitive site of the Esplanade of the Mosques in East Jerusalem, an area occupied and annexed by Israel, to pray on Sunday, August 3.

The third holiest site in Islam, the esplanade, built on the ruins of the second Jewish temple destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans, is a powder keg where the slightest incident can escalate to the point of setting the region ablaze. For Jews, it is the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.

Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, one of the most radical members of the government coalition and accustomed to provocations, published a video on social media this morning showing him earlier on the Esplanade of the Mosques, a visit usually seen as a provocation by the Muslim world and a clear violation of the status quo at the holy sites.

"Just as we have proven that it is possible to exercise sovereignty over the Temple Mount, it is also possible to 'conquer the entire Gaza Strip' and 'encourage voluntary emigration,'" the minister commented in the video.

"This is the response we must give to the atrocious videos published by Hamas," the minister said, referring to the videos published over the past three days of emaciated Israeli hostages in the hands of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Under a status quo decreed after Israel's conquest of East Jerusalem in 1967, non-Muslims can visit the esplanade at specific times without praying, but this rule is increasingly flouted by a growing number of nationalist Jews.

During the day, other images were relayed on social networks, showing Mr. Ben Gvir saying a traditional Jewish prayer, accompanied by some of his supporters and under the eyes of the Israeli police.

According to the Times of Israel, the minister "led a group of Jewish worshippers in prayer atop the Temple Mount this Sunday, as he marked the fast day of Tisha B'Av." This day of fasting and mourning in the Hebrew calendar commemorates the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem.

The left-wing daily Haaretz called the act a "provocation," saying the far-right minister was "throwing fuel on the fire." Prime Minister Netanyahu's office responded immediately, reassuring that "Israel's policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will remain unchanged."

In 2024, the far-right minister had already prayed alongside 3,000 other worshippers on the Esplanade of the Mosques. The UN, via a spokesperson for the Secretary-General, had regretted "an unnecessary provocation."

Jordan, which administers the esplanade but whose entry points have been controlled by Israel since the capture of East Jerusalem in 1967, condemned "the practices of this extremist minister" which "do not call into question the fact that East Jerusalem is an occupied city."

Saudi Arabia also "strongly condemned the repeated provocations by members of the Israeli occupation government against the holy Al Aqsa Mosque," denouncing practices that "fuel the conflict in the region" and "undermine peace efforts."

The Palestinian Authority, through its spokesperson, condemned a "dangerous escalation," while Hamas denounced this "massive settler incursion, a criminal escalation and a continuation of the ongoing aggression against our people, their land and their sacred sites."

Footage released by the Jordanian Waqf Foundation, which administers the esplanade on a daily basis, shows dozens of Jewish worshippers entering the esplanade, singing and clapping their hands.