More than 2,300 Israeli settlers and far-right group members entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on July 23, 2026, according to the Palestinian administration of the Jerusalem governorate, which provided the participation figures covering an initial three-hour period Al Jazeera. The governorate expected the total to reach as high as 5,000 by sundown. Anadolu Agency footage placed the count at approximately 1,300 at the time of its reporting. Israeli media separately reported that police allowed more than 1,000 Israelis to pray at the site.

The incursion coincided with Tisha B'Av, the Jewish day of mourning marking the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Israeli settlers performed Talmudic rituals inside the compound, including prostrating themselves, singing, and praying, according to the Jerusalem governorate Al Jazeera. WAFA reported that the incursions began at 6:30 AM under a newly extended morning schedule WAFA. Settlers entered the compound from the Mount of Olives, per Anadolu Agency footage distributed via Reuters Connect.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir entered the compound under heavy police protection Al Jazeera. According to Haaretz, Ben-Gvir said Jews visiting the site on Tisha B'Av "feel like the owners" and praised what he called "tremendous progress" there. Middle East Eye reported that Israeli ministers and lawmakers led what it described as a mass raid by ultranationalist Israelis Middle East Eye. Members of the ruling Likud party participated, which Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh characterized as a "fundamental political shift."

Israeli forces imposed tight restrictions at the mosque's gates, barring large numbers of Palestinian worshippers and students from entering. Police enforced age-based access limitations, and Palestinian worshippers prayed outside the mosque as a result Haaretz.

The Jerusalem governorate described Ben-Gvir's entry as a dangerous escalation reflecting official Israeli backing. The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs condemned calls for the incursions as a "dangerous escalation" aimed at altering the historical and legal status quo of the site Al Jazeera.

Ben-Gvir's relationship with the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif compound has generated regional friction before. In April 2026, The Times of Israel reported that he said he feels like the "master" of the Temple Mount. Jordan slammed that visit, accusing him of "storming Al-Aqsa" Times of Israel. In May 2026, Ben-Gvir waved an Israeli flag on the Temple Mount alongside a far-right MK who called to "get rid of all the mosques" and "construct the Temple" Times of Israel. Hamas has previously warned that Ben-Gvir could "blow up the situation" if he visits the site Times of Israel. The United Arab Emirates condemned an earlier Ben-Gvir visit, denouncing his "storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard" Times of Israel.

The broader context here matters for understanding what is at stake. The Al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. The historical status quo, administered through Jordan's Waqf under the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, permits non-Muslim visits but prohibits formal Jewish prayer at the site. The Israeli government has officially maintained this arrangement while enforcement has periodically shifted. Ben-Gvir, as National Security Minister, oversees Israeli police operations in East Jerusalem, including at the compound's gates. His direct participation in the incursion, alongside ruling party lawmakers, elevates what has historically been a grassroots settler movement into an instrument of state policy, or at minimum, state-enabled action.

The scale of the July 23 incursion, the extension of the morning entry window, the performance of ritual prayer inside the compound, and the presence of senior government officials collectively test the boundaries of the status quo arrangement in ways that previous incursions, largely conducted by organized settler groups without ministerial participation, did not. The discrepancy between the Jerusalem governorate's count of over 2,300 and Anadolu's figure of approximately 1,300 likely reflects the different time windows captured by each source, with the governorate tracking a rolling total that it projected would rise further.

Whether regional actors respond to this latest incursion with the same diplomatic condemnation directed at Ben-Gvir's earlier visits will signal how much appetite Jordan, the Gulf states, and other actors have for pressing the status quo issue at a moment when broader regional dynamics are already volatile. The participation of Likud party figures alongside a far-right minister suggests the normalization of incursions is no longer confined to the coalition's ideological fringe.