Hamas issued a warning to Israel on the terror organization’s Telegram channel on Saturday, threatening an ‘explosion’ of rage should Muslim access to al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount be restricted during Ramadan.
“Let our enemy know that souls are boiling… [our] anger is imminent… and an explosion is coming in response to any restrictions on the entry of Muslims to Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan,” Hamas wrote.
Last week, The Jerusalem Post reported that a source had confirmed that visitation rights to the Temple Mount for West Bank Palestinian Muslims would be restricted to individuals over the age of 60 and under the age of 10.
Possible restrictions on Israeli Muslims were still under review. Specifically, KAN subsequently reported that the restriction of access to the Temple Mount for Israeli Arabs below the age of 40 was being examined.
"Escalate the confrontation"
“We call on the people of our Palestinian people in the occupied territories, Jerusalem and the West Bank, to escalate the confrontation of the occupation everywhere,” Hamas wrote in a previous message on Telegram. The Islamist terror organization added that they called upon Palestinians “to mobilize and march to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, to protect it from the desecration of the usurping settlers, and to thwart all fascist plans targeting the Holy Mosque and the Holy City.”
The decision to restrict Ramadan access to the Temple Mount was made during an ad-hoc war cabinet meeting that included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, National Unity ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz.
The decision received subsequent criticism from Arab and left-wing politicians. Nevertheless, cabinet members, including Benny Gantz and Israel Katz, asserted that the government was enabling freedom of religion as much as possible and that the restrictions were purely for security reasons.
This isn’t the first time that the Israeli government restricted access to the Temple Mount over Ramadan. Last year, in April, a few days before “Quds Day,” Netanyahu announced that Jewish access to the holy site would be prohibited for the remaining days of Ramadan.
Then, similarly, Hamas also issued a warning to Israel, advising "against committing any foolish act against al-Aqsa."
Eliav Breuer and Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.