Ben-Gvir leads Israelis in storming Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

More than a thousand Israelis stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied east Jerusalem on Tuesday morning to perform rituals marking the Jewish holiday of Tish B'Av.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and fellow Jewish Power party minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf were among the group that stormed the Muslim holy site under Israeli police escort.

Video posted to social media showed Ben-Gvir entering the site while singing "Am Yisrael Chai" - a Hebrew chant meaning "the people of Israel live" - which has been revived as a nationalist rallying call for Israel's war on Gaza.

According to an official at the Endowments Department, around 1,200 Israelis - some armed - had entered the Al-Aqsa compound within the first hour and a half of the storming on Tuesday.

The Israeli extremists entered the Al-Aqsa compound through the Moroccan Gate, after which they performed religious rituals in the courtyard and in front of the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic Endowments Department said. 

Decades-long conventions and international agreements, including the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty, allow Muslims to pray at the site with few restrictions while banning prayers and rituals by non-Muslims, who can only enter as visitors.

Ben-Gvir has previously said he believes Jews should have the right to pray at the Muslim holy site, which both Israeli law and the compound’s “status quo” regulations prohibit.

An official at the Endowments Department who asked to remain anonymous told The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Israel imposed restrictions mosque staff and Palestinian worshippers ahead of the storming on Tuesday. 

Israelis use the term "Temple Mount" to refer to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is the third most holy site in the Islamic faith. Some Israeli extremists wish to demolish the mosque and rebuild a Jewish temple thought to have existed there in ancient times. The Jewish observance of Tish B'Av is said to mark the destruction the first and second temples.

The storming comes amid increased Israeli army and settler violence in the West Bank, which has coincided with Israel's war on Gaza.

At least 618 Palestinians have been killed there by the Israeli army or settlers since October, according to an AFP count based on official Palestinian data.

In Gaza, Israel's war on the besieged enclave has killed close to 40,00o people and wounded tens of thousands more.