Ben-Gvir Leads Al-Aqsa Incursion on Sukkot

Israeli forces closed intersections and streets surrounding the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem ahead of the entry, according to the Jerusalem governorate, which reported that those who entered danced and sang in the compound's courtyards. Ben-Gvir stated that the site was "the most important place for the Jewish people" and that Israelis were "the owners of the place."

The visit was not an isolated act. Israeli police have permitted daily group entries into the compound since 2003, excluding Fridays and Saturdays. What distinguished this incursion was its scale, the cabinet-level participation, and the surrounding restrictions on Palestinians — the Association for Civil Rights in Israel reported that dozens of Palestinian shopkeepers in the Cotton Merchants Market were forced to close their businesses to accommodate Jewish prayers in the area.

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh described the incursion as "playing with fire" and warned that Israel was seeking to ignite a "religious war." The Palestinian statement frames it as provocation; the Israeli minister frames it as devotion. Those two characterisations are irreconcilable, and the access arrangements that make this confrontation routine are themselves the thing neither side has agreed to resolve.