The radical Israeli settler groups have threatened to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied city of al-Quds and replace it with a Jewish temple, according to the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Abdul-Latif Qanu, a spokesman for Hamas, rejected the proposal, labeling it a “dangerous and unprecedented escalation” and a “part of the growing religious war on the holy site,” according to the Palestinian Information Center.
He said, “Extremist Jewish groups backed by their regime are working at an accelerated pace on changing the religious, historical and legal status quo at Aqsa Mosque, but such a plan will fail and our people will confront it strongly and courageously.”
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Any damage done to al-Aqsa, according to Qanu, “is like touching a detonator,” and he emphasized that the occupying regime “will be fully responsible for the consequences of its foolishness and aggression” against the holy site.
Additionally, he urged Muslim nations to act decisively to defend Al-Aqsa and put an end to Israeli aggression against the holy site.
Above the Western Wall plaza is the al-Aqsa Mosque complex. Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are both housed there.
Jewish visitors are permitted to enter the mosque, but non-Muslim worship at the compound is forbidden, per a deal signed between Israel and the Jordanian government after Israel occupied East al-Quds in 1967.
Right-wing extremists who support the destruction of the Islamic site in order to construct a Jewish temple are a significant portion of Israel’s Knesset (parliament).
Israel is playing with fire by making such provocations, according to the Palestinian resistance organizations.
Meanwhile, there have been an increasing number of unlawful settler incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in recent years, during which numerous Palestinians have been hurt, killed, or detained.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in al-Quds, which the Palestinians claim is being steadily Jewishized and losing its Arab and Islamic identity.
