The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has said that excavations and tunnels beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque, together with comments by Benjamin Netanyahu, are a blatant attack on the identity and status of the holy site and an incitement to the feelings of Palestinians and Arab and Islamic nations.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Hamas said Al-Aqsa Mosque, with all its courtyards, prayer halls, walls and gates, is a wholly Islamic mosque, and that efforts to change its identity or impose a Talmudic narrative on the site would not succeed.<\/p>\n
The statement added that Israel\u2019s excavations, ceremonies and provocative remarks are part of an effort to impose new realities in Jerusalem and at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Hamas stressed that these actions would not erase the historical and religious rights of Palestinians to their holy sites.<\/p>\n
The group called on Palestinians to go to Al-Aqsa Mosque in larger numbers and prevent what Hamas described as dangerous violations. Hamas also urged Arab and Islamic nations to take responsibility for Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque and to act against efforts to alter the status of these sites.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Netanyahu early on Sunday published videos and images on his official Instagram account showing him at a ceremony linked to the Western Wall. He also visited one of the tunnels excavated beneath the site with his wife and again made claims about ownership of Al-Aqsa Mosque.<\/p>\n
Alongside this event, images published on social media show thousands of settlers going to the Western Wall area west of Al-Aqsa Mosque and holding Talmudic ceremonies. The images have sparked a wave of anger and condemnation among users and political activists.<\/p>\n
According to activists and users, the event is not limited to a visit or a statement, but is a sign of an organised effort to change the identity of the site and entrench the Israeli narrative in Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in East Jerusalem and is considered one of the most sensitive religious and political sites in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hamas says excavations beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque are an attack on Jerusalem\u2019s identity and a bid to impose new facts on the holy site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}