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The videos caused an uproar in Israel and raised pressure on the government to reach a deal to bring home from Gaza the remaining 50 hostages who were captured on October 7, 2023, in the Hamas-led attack that triggered the war.
Israel’s official position accepts the rules restricting non-Muslim prayer at the compound, which is Islam’s third-holiest site and the most sacred site in Judaism.
Ben-Gvir’s previous visits have prompted threats from Palestinian militant groups. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fuelled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021.
Sunday’s visit was swiftly condemned as an incitement by Palestinian leaders as well as Jordan, the Al-Aqsa Mosque’s custodian, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said after Ben-Gvir’s visit that Israel would not change the norms governing the site, which is run by a Jordanian religious foundation.
Videos of suffering Israeli hostages
The weekend videos – released by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza — triggered outrage across the political spectrum after the hostages, speaking under duress, described grim conditions and an urgent lack of food.
Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday, urging Israel and the United States to urgently pursue the hostages’ release after suspending ceasefire talks.
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“In this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,” Tami Braslavski, mother of one of the hostages, Rom Braslavski, said in a statement.
Netanyahu’s office said it spoke with the Red Cross to seek help in providing the hostages with food and medical care. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “appalled by the harrowing videos” and called for access to the hostages.
Right-wing politicians who oppose deals with Hamas said the videos reinforced their conviction that Hamas must be obliterated.
“From here we need to bring a message and ensure that from today, we conquer all of the Gaza Strip, declare sovereignty over all of the Gaza Strip, take out every Hamas member and encourage voluntary emigration,” Ben-Gvir said on a video posted on social media after his visit to the holy site.
Deadly chaos around aid sites
Palestinians reported more deadly violence at aid sites on Sunday, and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said a staff member was killed when Israeli forces shelled its office. Israel’s military said it was reviewing the Red Crescent’s claim.
The Red Cross called it an “outrage” that so many first responders have been killed in the war.
Hospital officials said Israeli forces killed at least 33 Palestinians seeking food, and witnesses described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged toward aid sites.
Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts warn faces “a worst-case scenario of famine” because of Israel’s blockade.
No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and aid has been limited since then.
Three Palestinian eyewitnesses, including one travelling through Teina, told the Associated Press they saw soldiers open fire on the routes, which are in military zones secured by Israeli forces. Israel’s military said it was not aware of casualties as a result of its gunfire near aid sites in the south.
The United Nations says 859 people were killed near GHF sites from May 27 to July 31, and hundreds of others have been killed along the routes of UN-led food convoys.
GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel’s military has said it only fires warning shots. Both claim the death tolls have been exaggerated.
GHF’s media office said Sunday there was no gunfire “near or at our sites.”
More deaths from hunger
Gaza’s Health Ministry said six more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, bringing the malnutrition-related death toll among adults to 82 over the five weeks that such deaths have been counted.
Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began, the ministry said.
Israel has taken steps in the past week to increase the flow of food into Gaza, saying 1200 aid trucks have entered while hundreds of pallets have been airdropped, but UN and relief groups say conditions have not improved. The UN has said 500 to 600 trucks a day are needed.
About 1200 people were killed in the 2023 attack that sparked the war, and another 251 were abducted. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,800 Palestinians, according to the health ministry.
The ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn’t provided its own account of casualties.
AP, Reuters
