PA warns of escalation in West Bank following Israeli funds for Al-Aqsa raids

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday warned about the potential for escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank, following the Israeli government’s allocation of funds to support settler raids into Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In a statement, the ministry described this financial support as an official Israeli policy aimed at intensifying the Judaisation of Al-Aqsa Mosque and an effort to alter its existing legal status.

The ministry pointed to this as clear evidence of the Israeli government’s involvement in these aggressions. It noted that this support is part of an effort to promote the false claim of equal rights to pray at the site and to impose a temporal division, similar to what the Israeli occupation is enforcing at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank.

This came after the Israeli Minister of Heritage Amihai Ben-Eliyahu announced earlier that funds had been allocated to support settler raids into Al-Aqsa Mosque and to reinforce the so-called “Torah narrative” regarding the mosque, according to his claims.

In response, 30 rabbis in Israel rejected the government’s decision, saying: “Entering the Temple Mount raises concerns about disrespecting its sanctity, considered one of the gravest violations in the Torah.” They emphasised that the raids do not change Al-Aqsa’s status as a non-touristic holy site.

READ: Ben-Gvir seeks to build synagogue at Al-Aqsa