ByTZVI JOFFRE

Hamas warned that Israel is "playing with fire" on Friday by allowing Jews to visit the Temple Mount and march around the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem on Tisha Be'av, which marks the day when the two Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed.

The terrorist movement also spoke out against demolitions and planned evictions of Palestinians in the Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

Hamas affirmed that it would continue the confrontation against Israel and called on the youth of Jerusalem to mobilize at the gates of the Old City and throughout the capital to confront Israelis, starting on Saturday.

The terrorist group called on Palestinians from the West Bank and Arab-Israelis to visit al-Aqsa Mosque on Eid al-Adha, which begins on Monday night and ends on Friday.

Hamas additionally called on residents of Gaza to "keep their fingers on the trigger" to defend Jerusalem. In May, tensions surrounding the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, as well as clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians on the Temple Mount, came to a head on Jerusalem Day, when Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem, sparking an 11-day conflict called Operation Guardian of the Walls.

This year, Tisha Be'av coincides with Eid al-Adha, known as the "festival of sacrifice," which coincides with the completion of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates Ibrahim's (Abraham) readiness to sacrifice his son in order to demonstrate his dedication to God (Muslims believe that the son was Ishmael; Jews believe it was Isaac). In past years, clashes have broken out on the Temple Mount on Tisha Be'av.
In 2019, when the two holidays coincided, violent protests broke out on the Temple Mount, with Palestinians injuring four police officers and 40 Palestinians being injured in the clashes. That year, Jews were initially barred from entering the Temple Mount on Tisha Be'av, but were eventually let on after an uproar by religious Zionist leaders.
 
Visits by religious Jews to the Temple Mount are monitored by Wakf guards and Israeli police – and all Jewish prayer, including silent prayer, is forbidden, according to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. No sacred Jewish objects, such as prayer books or prayer shawls, may be brought onto the mount, according to the tourism website Tourist Israel.
 
Despite the ban on prayer, Jewish visitors have been able to conduct some prayer at the site undisturbed by police since December 2019.

Im Tirzu, along with a number of other right-wing organizations, is planning a march around the walls of the Old City on Saturday night, when Tisha Be'av begins.

Last year, the Joint Headquarters of Temple Mount Organizations released a pamphlet  on Wednesday with a number of rulings concerning Jewish law for those who visit the Mount on Tisha Be'av, including a ruling that even people who are concerned that they may need to drink water after visiting the site should visit in any case.

This year, temperatures are expected to be exceptionally hot on Tisha Be'av. Rabbi Yehuda Kroizer, rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Mitzpe Yericho and head of the Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea, ruled last year that if someone visiting the site begins to feel very weak, they are permitted to drink water. If they can manage with drinking a smaller amount of water, they should only drink 40 ml. every nine minutes.

On Tisha Be'av, which begins on Saturday night, Jews mark the day that the two Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed and a number of other calamities occurred by fasting for 25 hours and abiding by other mourning practices, including sitting on the floor or low chairs, not bathing or wearing leather shoes, and reciting the Book of Lamentations (Megillat Eicha), in which the prophet Jeremiah laments the destruction of Jerusalem and the subsequent exile.