Egypt calls for halting Israeli escalation at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa complex

ANKARA (AA) – Egypt has condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem by Israeli settlers to celebrate the Jewish New Year.

On Sunday, over 300 Israeli settlers forced their way into the flashpoint site under police protection to mark the Rosh Hashanah (New Year) holiday.

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry called for halting “such escalatory actions that provoke millions of Muslims around the world and contribute to ignite violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

The ministry said repeated settler raids and attempts to divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque “will not undermine its historical and legal status as a purely Islamic endowment.”

“Such provocative actions undermine the foundations of any settlement on which regional and international efforts rely to revive the peace process based on the two-state solution,” the ministry said.

For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa Mosque represents the world’s third-holiest site- the first marker of prayer direction in Islam and the site for Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)’s Ascension to the heavens during his Night Journey (Mi’raj). Jews, on the other hand, call the area the ‘Temple Mount’, caliming that it was the site of two ancient Jewish temples.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa complex is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It illegally annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.