In yet another violation of international law and Muslim sanctities, groups of Israeli settlers, escorted by heavily armed occupation police, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound (Haram al-Sharif) on Sunday morning.

Eyewitnesses reported that the settlers entered the sacred site through the Al-Maghariba (Moroccan) Gate in the early hours, while Israeli police imposed tight restrictions on Palestinian worshippers. Barricades were erected around the Qibla Masjid and the Dome of the Rock to prevent Muslims from performing prayers, and several Palestinian youths were forcibly expelled from the mosque’s courtyard.

During the incursion, settlers roamed provocatively across the courtyards of Al-Aqsa and performed Talmudic rituals in blatant disregard for the mosque’s sanctity. Occupation forces confiscated the IDs of Palestinians seeking to enter and denied entry to many, further restricting Muslim access to one of Islam’s holiest sites.

Palestinian institutions have condemned these repeated violations, stressing that the raids are part of Israel’s “temporal and spatial division” plan — a strategy aimed at eroding Muslim presence and control over the mosque and altering its historical and religious identity. The Islamic Endowments Authority warned that the escalating pace of these attacks is a direct assault on the Islamic character of Al-Aqsa, and that the silence of the international community only emboldens the occupation.

Al-Aqsa Mosque, located in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem, is the third holiest site in Islam. It has been under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967, and its status as occupied territory is recognized under international law. Accordingly, all such settler incursions and restrictions on Palestinian worship are unlawful.

For Palestinians, each raid on Al-Aqsa is not an isolated event but part of a broader campaign to Judaize Jerusalem, erase its Muslim heritage, and impose full Israeli control over Haram al-Sharif. As these violations continue unchecked, calls are growing for urgent action from the Muslim world and the global community to defend the sanctity of Al-Aqsa and uphold the rights of Palestinian worshippers. (ILKHA)