Historically, at moments when authorities in Israel have concerns about security both in Jerusalem and nationally, they have restricted access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Al Jazeera’s Willem Marx reports from occupied East Jerusalem.

Itamar Ben-Gvir as national security minister has publicly called for those restrictions to be heightened this year. It would mean men only over the age of 60 would be able to attend the mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.

This is something that clearly he [Ben-Gvir] knows, and many others here in occupied East Jerusalem are fully aware of, could create a powder keg of tension in the days and weeks ahead.

But …Yoav Gallant [Israel’s defence minister] yesterday speaking to Israeli military forces in the central command area of Israel, [said] that those kinds of inflammatory statements from “people with influence” — he didn’t name Ben-Gvir — should be ignored when it comes to this highly problematic tension [around Al-Aqsa Mosque] here in Jerusalem.