Israeli Visits to Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound Increase During Jewish Holiday Period

Hundreds of Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City this week, according to Al Jazeera, as visits to the site by Israeli citizens have increased during the current Jewish holiday period.

The report describes the visits as accompanied by Israeli police and says they have intensified in recent days, a pattern that has recurred during Jewish holidays in previous years.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is one of the most sensitive sites in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, holy to both Muslims and Jews and situated in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after the 1967 war in a move not recognized internationally.

Under a long-standing arrangement, non-Muslim visitors are permitted to enter the compound during set hours but are not supposed to pray there, a rule that Palestinian and Jordanian officials say has been increasingly tested in recent years by groups of religious and nationalist Israelis visiting in larger numbers.

Palestinian officials and worshippers have previously described increased visits during Jewish holidays as raising tensions at the site, while Israeli authorities generally frame the visits as a matter of religious freedom maintained under police supervision.

The report did not detail specific incidents of confrontation or injury associated with this week's visits, nor statements from Israeli or Palestinian officials responding to the reported increase.