Israeli actions 'paving way for total control' over Al-Aqsa, says Hamas

Hamas political bureau member Khaled Meshaal has warned that Israeli actions and measures around Al-Aqsa Mosque are “paving the way for total control and domination over the site”.

Meshaal said the measures included the reported 40-day closure of the mosque, what he described as the “imposition of temporal division” to facilitate incursions by “extremist Jewish groups” and efforts to create “spatial division” by emptying key facilities within the courtyard, according to a statement.

Al-Aqsa “stands at a crossroads”, Meshaal said, and called for steps to protect the site, including what he called a “strategy of resistance and jihad”.

He also urged Arab and Muslim-majority countries to back Palestine and called on Palestinians to keep a “steadfast presence” at the mosque.

The comments come a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured tunnels beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque as hundreds of Israeli settlers raided the Jerusalem holy site.

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

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.”

On 20 September, 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. 

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. 

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) complex 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.