TEL AVIV, Oct 8 : Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, considered far right leader, has hailed the IDF and claimed from the summit of Temple Mount that Jerusalem is “victorious” at the site two years after October 7, terror attack.
The visit also took place the day after the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war in Gaza, reports Times of Israel.
“We are now two years since the terrible massacre? Every house in Gaza has a picture of the Temple Mount, and now, two years later, we are victorious on the Temple Mount, we are the landlords on the Temple Mount,” said Gvir, standing before the Dome of the Rock.
Footage shared by his office showed the minister leading prayers near the eastern wall of the Temple Mount complex.
Under a status quo arrangement between Israel and Jordan, Jews are ostensibly barred from praying at the site.
However, recently there has been a sharp policy shift with police personnel permitting Jewish worshipers to pray and even prostrate themselves in certain areas further from the Dome of the Rock.
The far-right politician further urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure the complete destruction of Hamas and “total victory” in Gaza, amid fast-moving talks for a hostage and ceasefire deal.
Hamas, condemning the visit, called it “a deliberately provocative move that reflects the fascist thinking of the Israeli government.”
The statement added that the visit, which took place on the same date as the Temple Mount riots (“the Al-Aqsa massacre,” as Hamas calls it) on Oct 8, 1990, was a hostile message meant to impose control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli and Hamas negotiators are currently in Egypt holding indirect talks on the return of the hostages, release of Palestinian security prisoners, and a full-fledged ceasefire, as part of US President Donald Trump’s comprehensive 20-point-plan.
(UNI)
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