Netanyahu tours Al-Aqsa tunnels as settlers and Ben Gvir storm holy site

Ahead of Yom Kippur, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined tens of thousands for Selichot prayers at the Western Wall and later shared a video of himself and Sara Netanyahu walking through tunnels beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying they were close to the Holy of Holies. On Sunday, hundreds of Israeli settlers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, entered the Al-Aqsa compound under police protection and were filmed praying inside.

The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate put the number of participants at about 800 and described the Old City as turned into a “military barracks.” A further raid on Monday involved more than 400 Israelis. The Muslim World League’s secretary-general Dr Muhammad Al-Issa denounced the raids as provocative and urged the international community to halt repeated violations of the mosque’s legal status-quo, which traditionally places the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf in charge of the site. Since Israel’s 1967 occupation, the status-quo has been increasingly undermined by frequent settler incursions and occasional Jewish prayer at the compound.