Anger as far-right Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem
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, and 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 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 Mr Ben-Gvir's visit that Israel would not change the norms governing the holy site.
Mr Ben-Gvir made the stop after Hamas released 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 October 7 2023, in the attack that triggered the war.
During his visit to the hilltop compound, Mr 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 condemned the video that Hamas released on Saturday of 24-year-old hostage Evyatar David, showing him looking skeletal and hollow-eyed in a dimly lit Gaza tunnel.
The minister called it an attempt to pressure Israel.
Mr 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 fuelled 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.
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Reuters
28 minutes ago
- Reuters
Israel to decide next steps in Gaza after ceasefire talks collapse
JERUSALEM, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet this week to decide on Israel's next steps in Gaza following the collapse of indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas, with one senior Israeli source suggesting more force could be an option. Last Saturday, during a visit to the country, U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had said he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would effectively end the war in Gaza. But Israeli officials have also floated ideas including expanding the military offensive in Gaza and annexing parts of the shattered enclave. The failed ceasefire talks in Doha had aimed to clinch agreements on a U.S.-backed proposal for a 60-day truce, during which aid would be flown into Gaza and half of the hostages Hamas is holding would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel. After Netanyahu met Witkoff last Thursday, a senior Israeli official said that "an understanding was emerging between Washington and Israel," of a need to shift from a truce to a comprehensive deal that would "release all the hostages, disarm Hamas, and demilitarize the Gaza Strip," - Israel's key conditions for ending the war. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday that the envoy's visit was seen in Israel as "very significant." But later on Sunday, the Israeli official signalled that pursuit of a deal would be pointless, threatening more force: "An understanding is emerging that Hamas is not interested in a deal and therefore the prime minister is pushing to release the hostages while pressing for military defeat." What a "military defeat" might mean, however, is up for debate within the Israeli leadership. Some Israeli officials have suggested that Israel might declare it was annexing parts of Gaza as a means to pressure the militant group. Others, like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir want to see Israel impose military rule in Gaza before annexing it and re-establishing the Jewish settlements Israel evicted 20 years ago. The Israeli military, which has pushed back at such ideas throughout the war, was expected on Tuesday to present alternatives that include extending into areas of Gaza where it has not yet operated, according to two defence officials. While some in the political leadership are pushing for expanding the offensive, the military is concerned that doing so will endanger the 20 hostages who are still alive, the officials said. Israeli Army Radio reported on Monday that military chief Eyal Zamir has become increasingly frustrated with what he describes as a lack of strategic clarity by the political leadership, concerned about being dragged into a war of attrition with Hamas militants. A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declined to comment on the report but said that the military has plans in store. "We have different ways to fight the terror organization, and that's what the army does," Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said. On Tuesday, Qatar and Egypt endorsed a declaration by France and Saudi Arabia outlining steps toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which included a call on Hamas to hand over its arms to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. Hamas has repeatedly said it won't lay down arms. But it has told mediators it was willing to quit governance in Gaza for a non-partisan ruling body, according to three Hamas officials. It insists that the post-war Gaza arrangement must be agreed upon among the Palestinians themselves and not dictated by foreign powers. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar suggested on Monday that the gaps were still too wide to bridge. "We would like to have all our hostages back. We would like to see the end of this war. We always prefer to get there by diplomatic means, if possible. But of course, the big question is, what will be the conditions for the end of the war?" he told journalists in Jerusalem.
BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
Gaza hostage's brother pleads with world leaders to save them from 'twisted hands of Hamas'
The brother of an Israeli hostage held in the Gaza Strip has told the BBC that a Hamas video showing him emaciated and weak is a "new form of cruelty" that has left his parents footage of Evyatar David - days after that of another hostage - drew strong condemnation from Israel and Western leaders."He's a human skeleton. He was being starved to the point where he can be dead at any moment, and he suffers a great deal. He barely can't speak, he barely can move," David's brother Ilay said in an interview on families have urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prioritise their release as reports suggest he might be planning to expand the military campaign. Both Evyatar David and the other hostage, Rom Braslavski, were abducted from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023."I haven't eaten for days... I barely got drinking water," David, 24, says. He is seen digging what he says is his own brother said their father had barely recognised his son's voice on the video and had not been able to sleep. He said his mother cried all day."Seeing those images of my brother as a human skeleton, we understood it's, it's, it's a new kind of cruelty," Mr David said. "It's the lowest you can get."He called on world leaders to unite to save him and other hostages "from the cruel, twisted hands of Hamas"."So we have to be so focused on delivering the message, which is, Evyatar is dying, we need to give him medicine, to give him food, proper food, and you need to get this treatment now, or else will die."Hamas's armed wing denied it intentionally starves prisoners, saying hostages eat what their fighters and people in Gaza eat. After the hostages' videos were released, Netanyahu spoke with their families, telling them that efforts to return all the hostages "will continue constantly and relentlessly".But an Israeli official - widely quoted by local media - said Netanyahu was working to free the hostages through "the military defeat of Hamas".The possibility of a new escalation in Gaza may further anger Israel's allies which have been pushing for an immediate ceasefire as reports of Palestinians dying from starvation or malnutrition cause shock around the main group supporting hostages' families condemned the idea of a new military offensive saying: "Netanyahu is leading Israel and the hostages to doom."That view was pointedly made in a letter by some 600 retired Israeli security officials sent to US President Donald Trump urging him to pressure Israel to immediately end the war in Gaza."Your credibility with the vast majority of Israelis augments your ability to steer Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his government in the right direction: End the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering," they group included former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, Ami Ayalon, former chief of Shin Bet - Israel's domestic secret service agency - former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and former Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon among others."It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel," they said."At first this war was a just war, a defensive war, but when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war," said former top leaders head the Commanders for Israel's Security (CIS) group, which has urged the government in the past to focus on securing the return of the hostages."Stop the Gaza War! On behalf of CIS, Israel's largest group of former IDF generals and Mossad, Shin Bet, Police, and Diplomatic Corps equivalents, we urge you to end the Gaza war. You did it in Lebanon. Time to do it in Gaza as well," they wrote to the US president. Israel launched a devastating war in Gaza following Hamas's 7 October attack in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken into Gaza as than 60,000 people have been killed as a result of Israel's military campaign in Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry Monday, the ministry reported that at least 94 people had been killed in Gaza in the past day, including dozens it said had died in Israeli territory is also experiencing mass deprivation as a result of heavy restrictions imposed by Israel on what is allowed into Gaza. The ministry says 180 people, including 93 children, have died from malnutrition since the start of the reports have become almost daily in recent months but are hard to verify as international journalists, including the BBC, are blocked by Israel from entering agencies have said the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in territory is also experiencing mass deprivation as a result of heavy restrictions imposed by Israel on what is allowed into Gaza. The ministry says 180 people, including 93 children, have died from malnutrition since the start of the war.
Powys County Times
30 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
No 10 declines to say if Palestine to be recognised with Hamas in power
Downing Street declined to say whether Britain would recognise Palestine with Hamas still in power after the militant group reportedly described statehood as 'one of the fruits of October 7'. Number 10 also refused to be drawn on whether the release of all Israeli hostages was a condition for recognition, but insisted they must be freed 'unconditionally and immediately'. Concerns have been raised over the UK's plans to recognise a Palestinian state after Hamas member Ghazi Hamad appeared to claim the 'fruits' of October 7 had caused the world to 'open its eyes to the Palestinian issue'. Asked on Monday whether formalising the move without a ceasefire could embolden Hamas to hold onto Israeli captives, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said the Government would assess the situation in September. 'The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear that, on October 7, Hamas perpetrated the worst massacre in Israel's history,' he said. 'Every day since then that horror has continued… as the Foreign Secretary said over the weekend, Hamas are rightly pariahs who can have no role in Gaza's future.' Asked whether a Palestinian state could be recognised while Hamas are still holding hostages, the spokesman said that 'we'll make an assessment ahead of the UN General Assembly on how far the parties have met the steps that we've set out'. 'We've been very clear that Hamas can have no role in the future governments of Gaza… We've also been clear that they must disarm, must release all the hostages. On whether the step could be taken while Hamas remain in power, the official said the Government was clear that 'Hamas are not the Palestinian people'. 'It is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to have recognition along the lines and the steps that we've previously set out,' he said. 'We've also been very clear it cannot be in the hands of Hamas, a terrorist group, to have a veto over recognition of Palestine.' Videos released by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad last week appeared to show Israeli hostages in a visibly fragile state. Number 10 condemned the images as 'completely abhorrent'. Meanwhile, Mr Hamad reportedly told the Al Jazeera news outlet: 'The initiative by several countries to recognise a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of October 7.' About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas militants in the 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but its figures are seen by the UN and other independent experts as the most reliable count of casualties. The UK and Jordan have been working together to air drop aid amid warnings of widespread malnourishment in Gaza. It comes as Britain seeks to put pressure on Israel to change course with a plan to recognise a Palestinian state in September ahead of the UN General Assembly. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK would only refrain from recognising Palestine if Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire and signs up to a long-term peace process over the next two months.
