Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir entered Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound early Sunday, leading a procession that Israeli media and Palestinian officials said included roughly 3,000 Jewish settlers. The visit coincided with Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning over the destruction of the biblical temples, and was conducted under heavy police protection. Video circulated by local outlets showed the far-right minister reciting prayers in the esplanade’s courtyards, an area where Jewish worship is prohibited under the decades-old status quo arrangement. During the tour, Ben-Gvir urged Israel to “occupy Gaza, declare sovereignty over the entire Strip and encourage voluntary migration,” remarks that add to mounting regional tensions amid the continuing war with Hamas and daily clashes in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian factions condemned the visit as an attempt to impose new facts at the holy site; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called it a “dangerous escalation” carried out while “genocide and starvation” persist in Gaza. Jordan, which serves as custodian of Islamic sites in Jerusalem, denounced the incursion “in the strongest terms” and warned that repeated violations of the compound’s status quo risk igniting wider unrest. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry had earlier cautioned that far-right groups were planning the largest incursion in years. Under international agreements, non-Muslim prayer at the compound is barred, and previous visits by Israeli officials have triggered waves of violence.