Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site as officials report 27 aid-seekers killed in Gaza
Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site as officials report 27 aid-seekers killed in Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A far-right Israeli minister visited and prayed at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Sunday, triggering regional condemnation and fears that the provocative move could further escalate tensions. The visit came as hospitals in Gaza reported that 27 more Palestinians seeking food aid were killed by Israeli fire.
With Israel already facing global criticism over famine-like conditions in the besieged strip, the visit by Itamar Ben-Gvir to the hillside compound threatened to further set back efforts by international mediators to halt Israel’s nearly two-year military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The area, which Jews call the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism and was home to the ancient biblical temples. Muslims call the site the Noble Sanctuary. Today it is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.
Visits are considered a provocation across the Muslim world and openly praying violates a longstanding status quo at the combustible site.
Under the status quo, Jews have been allowed to tour the site but are barred from praying, with Israeli police and troops providing security. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said after Ben-Gvir’s visit that Israel would not change the norms governing the holy site.
Ben-Gvir made the stop following Hamas’ release of videos showing two emaciated Israeli hostages. The videos caused in uproar in Israel and raised pressure on the government to reach a deal to bring home from Gaza the remaining hostages who were captured on Oct. 7, 2023, in the attack that triggered the war.
During his visit to the hilltop compound, Ben-Gvir called for Israel to annex the Gaza Strip and encourage Palestinians to leave, reviving rhetoric that has complicated negotiations to end the war. He raged against a video that Hamas released Saturday of 24-year-old hostage Evyatar David showing him skeletal and hollow-eyed in a dimly lit Gaza tunnel. He called it an attempt to pressure Israel.
Ben-Gvir’s previous visits to the site have been explosive and prompted threats from Palestinian militant groups. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fueled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021.
His Sunday visit was swiftly condemned as an incitement by Palestinian leaders as well as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Sufian Qudah, spokesman for the foreign ministry in neighboring Jordan, which serves as the custodian of the Al Aqsa Mosque, condemned what he called “provocative incursions by the extremist minister” and implored Israel to prevent escalation.
Videos of hungry and suffering Israeli hostages
Israel has been jolted this week by videos of hostages with their faces hollow, ribs protruding and bodies ravaged by hunger.
The videos — released by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza — triggered outrage across the political spectrum in Israel. Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday urging Israel and the United States to urgently pursue their release after suspending ceasefire talks.
Right-wing politicians who have opposed deals with Hamas said the footage reinforced their conviction that the militant group must be obliterated once and for all.
“From here we need to bring a message and ensure that from today, we conquer all of the Gaza Strip, declare sovereignty over all of the Gaza Strip, take out every Hamas member and encourage voluntary emigration,” Ben-Gvir said on a video posted on social media after his visit to the holy site.
Deadly chaos grips food distribution points
Palestinians reported more deadly violence at aid sites and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said a staff member had been killed when Israeli forces shelled its office with artillery.
With international anger growing at the situation in Gaza, around 90,000 protesters in Australia marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, turning the city landmark into a symbol of opposition to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Hospital officials said Israeli forces killed at least 27 Palestinians seeking food on Sunday in the besieged territory, where witnesses described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged toward aid sites and the malnutrition-related death toll also rose.
Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts warn is facing “a worst-case scenario of famine ″ because of Israel’s blockade and nearly two-year offensive.
Yousef Abed, among the people en route to a distribution point, described coming under indiscriminate fire, seeing at least three people bleeding on the ground.
“I couldn’t stop and help them because of the bullets,” he said.
Two hospitals in southern and central Gaza reported receiving bodies from routes leading to Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites, including 11 killed in the Teina area en route to a distribution point in Khan Younis.
Three Palestinian eyewitnesses, including one traveling through Teina, told The Associated Press that shootings occurred on the routes, which are in military zones secured by Israeli forces. They said they saw soldiers open fire on hungry crowds advancing toward troops.
Eyewitnesses seeking food have reported similar gunfire attacks in recent days near aid distribution sites, leaving dozens of Palestinians dead. The United Nations reported 859 people were killed near GHF sites from May 27 to July 31 and that hundreds more have been slain along the routes of U.N.-led food convoys.
GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel’s military has said it only fires warning shots as well. Both claimed the death tolls have been exaggerated.
Israel’s military did not immediately responded to questions about Sunday’s reported fatalities at the sites but said it was reviewing Red Crescent’s claim. GHF’s Media Office said there was no gunfire “near or at our sites.”
Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said six more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours. It said Sunday’s casualties brought the death toll among Palestinian adults to 82 over the five weeks since the ministry started counting deaths among adults in late June. Malnutrition-related deaths are not included in the ministry’s count of war casualties.
Ninety-three children have also died of causes related to malnutrition since the war in Gaza started in 2023, the ministry said.
Israel has taken a series of steps to increase the flow of food into Gaza over the past week, but U.N. and relief groups say conditions have not improved.
The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, and abducting another 251. They are still holding 50 captives, around 20 believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel has disputed its figures, but hasn’t provided its own account of casualties.
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Metz reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAM METZ and SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press
