The foreign ministers of eight Arab and Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement Thursday condemning what they described as mass incursions by Israeli settlers and far-right groups into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.
Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates signed the statement. According to Al Jazeera, the ministers denounced the incursions as led by extremist Israeli ministers into what the statement called the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa, Islam's third-holiest site.
More than 4,200 Israeli settlers and members of far-right groups entered the compound on Thursday, one of the largest incursions of the year. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also entered the site under heavy police protection. Palestinian officials said Israeli forces imposed tight restrictions at the mosque's gates, barred large numbers of Palestinian worshippers and students from entering, and assaulted several people.
"These provocative actions fuel hatred and extremism, and obstruct efforts to advance a just and lasting peace on the basis of the two-State solution," the joint statement said. The ministers called the escalation "an unlawful attempt to alter the historical and legal status quo" of the holy sites in Jerusalem.
The statement also declared that "Israel has no sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy sites."
Thursday's events coincided with Tisha B'Av, the Jewish day of mourning that commemorates the destruction of an ancient Jewish temple, believed by religious tradition to have stood at the site Muslims call Al-Aqsa and Jews call the Temple Mount.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and formally annexed it in 1980. In 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal. Under the existing status quo, the Jerusalem Waqf, a Jordanian-appointed body, manages the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
The joint statement called on Israel, as the occupying power, to immediately lift the restrictions on access to the mosque. It also called on the international community to take a firm stance obligating Israel to stop what the ministers described as ongoing violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.
