Israel’s security minister enters the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound “in prayer” for the Gaza hostages. From Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s ultra-nationalist security minister went to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Thursday to offer a “prayer” for hostages in Gaza, resetting the rules for one of the Middle East’s most sensitive sites Ask.

Israel’s official position accepts decades-old rules restricting non-Muslim prayers at the site, Islam’s third holiest site and known as the Temple Mount to Jews, who revere it as the site of two ancient temples.

Under a delicate, decades-old “status quo” agreement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is managed by a Jordanian religious foundation and, under decades-old rules, Jews can visit but not pray there.

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The post included a picture of Ben-Gvir walking around the compound, which is located on an elevated plaza in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, but no pictures or videos of him praying.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office immediately released a statement reiterating Israel’s official position.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas took about 250 hostages in its attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which Israel said killed 1,200 people. Israeli forces killed over 45,300 Palestinians in the ensuing war in Gaza, according to health officials in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

Suggestions by Israeli ultra-nationalists that Israel would change the rules governing religious observances at the Al-Aqsa compound have sparked violence against Palestinians in the past.

In August, Ben-Gvir reiterated a call to allow Jews to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque, which drew strong criticism, and he has visited the mosque grounds in the past.

Ben-Gvir, leader of one of the two religious nationalist parties in Netanyahu’s coalition, has a long history of making inflammatory statements that were appreciated by his own supporters but contradicted the government’s official line.

In the past, Israeli police have prevented ministers from entering the site, saying it threatened national security. Ben-Gvir’s ministerial file gives him oversight of the Israeli National Police.