Pakistan on Tuesday strongly condemned the storming of Al Aqsa Mosque by Israeli occupation forces, the Foreign Office (FO) said.

The reaction comes a day after far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed East Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The report quoted the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem as saying that the minister toured the mosque’s courtyards, entering through the Mughrabi Gate and proceeding to the Chain Gate before returning via the same route, amidst a heavy deployment of occupation police.

“He has stormed the mosque approximately 14 times since assuming his position in 2023, as part of an escalating policy towards the mosque,” the report said.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the FO said, “Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms the storming of Al Aqsa Mosque by Israeli occupation forces.”

It noted that the “reprehensible act constitutes a direct assault on the sanctity and historical character of the holy site” as well as being a “violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions”.

“Pakistan categorically rejects all attempts by the Israeli occupying authorities to alter or undermine the established religious, historical and legal status of the Al Aqsa Mosque,” the FO said, calling upon the international community to take urgent and effective measures to prevent such provocations.

The FO reiterated Pakistan’s unwavering and principled support for the just cause of the Palestinian people, including their inalienable right to self- determination.

It also reiterated the country’s support for the “establishment of an independent, sovereign, viable and contiguous state of Palestine, based on the pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital”.

It is pertinent to mention that for the first time since 1967, Al Aqsa Mosque was closed at the end of Ramazan, with tensions rising among Palestinians as Israeli authorities keep the complex shut.

Since Israel and the United States started a war on Iran on Feb 28, Israeli authorities closed access to Jerusalem’s holy sites over security concerns — Al Aqsa Mosque for Muslims, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians and the Western Wall for Jews.

Turkiye, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt join condemnations

Meanwhile, several other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt, also issued strong condemnations of the Israeli minister storming the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Saudi Arabia, in a statement issued by its foreign ministry, expressed “strongest condemnation and denunciation of the blatant incursion carried out by a minister in the Israeli occupation government, under the protection of occupation forces”.

It reaffirmed “total rejection of the continued Israeli violations of international laws and the desecration of Islamic sanctities and the provocation of the feelings of Muslims around the world”.

Turkiye called it “an unacceptable provocation against the historical and legal identity of one of Islam’s holiest sites”, Anadolu Agency reported.

“It deemed unacceptable the violations and provocations by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government targeting the historical and legal identity of Al Aqsa Mosque, a holy site exclusively belonging to Muslims,” the report quoted the Turkish ministry as saying.

In a statement issued on X, Qatar’s foreign ministry termed the storming “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a provocation of the feelings of Muslims worldwide”.

Jordan’s foreign ministry said the storming occurred “under the protection of the Israeli occupation police”, terming it “an explicit violation of international law and international humanitarian law; a condemned escalation; an unacceptable provocation; and a violation of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and its historical and legal status quo”.

Jordan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ambassador Fouad Al-Majali stressed that “Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied city of Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy sites”.

Egypt also strongly condemned the incident, saying the act represented a “dangerous escalation, an unacceptable provocation, and a blatant violation of the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law, as well as an undermining of the historical and legal status quo in East Jerusalem”.

In a statement issued by the country’s foreign ministry, it affirmed rejection of “such practices that undermine the sanctity of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem”.