Pakistan on Monday condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by Israeli ministers. The Israeli ministers were accompanied by several groups and shielded by Israeli police.
Pakistan called out Tel Aviv for its shameless actions, which are inflaming tensions in Palestine and the wider region. Earlier on Sunday, Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, led a large group of illegal settlers in a provocative march and mass incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, coinciding with the Jewish commemoration of the Tisha B’Av.
According to the Jerusalem Islamic at least 1,251 illegal Israeli settlers stormed the mosque compound in the morning hours, performing Talmudic rituals, singing and dancing under heavy police protection. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. Under a decades-old status of arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is administered by the Jordanian Religious Foundation, and Jews are allowed to visit but cannot pray there.
“This sacrilege against one of Islam’s holiest sites is not only an affront to the faith of over a billion Muslims but also a direct assault on international law and the collective conscience of humanity,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif posted on X.
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“Pakistan reiterates its urgent call for an immediate ceasefire, an end to all acts of aggression, and the revival of a credible peace process leading to an independent and viable State of Palestine, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, by international law and relevant UN resolutions,” PM Shehbaz added.
The Foreign Office also issued a separate statement to condemn the Israeli move.
“The presence and statements of senior Israeli officials, and the repugnant declaration that ‘the Temple Mount is ours,’ are a dangerous and deliberate attempt to provoke religious sentiments across the world, escalate tensions, and alter the status of Al‑Aqsa Mosque,” the statement said.