Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site as officials say 33 aid-seekers killed in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — A far-right Israeli minister visited and prayed at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Sunday, triggering regional condemnation and fears that the provocative move could further escalate tensions. The visit came as hospitals in Gaza said 33 more Palestinians seeking food aid were killed by Israeli fire.

With Israel facing global criticism over famine-like conditions in the besieged strip, Itamar Ben-Gvir's visit to the hillside compound threatened to further set back efforts by international mediators to halt Israel’s nearly two-year military offensive in Gaza.

The area, which Jews call the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism and was home to the ancient biblical temples. Muslims call the site the Noble Sanctuary. Today it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Visits by Israeli officials are considered a provocation across the Muslim world and openly praying violates a long-standing status quo. Jews have been allowed to tour the site but are barred from praying, with Israeli police and troops providing security. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said after Ben-Gvir's visit that Israel would not change the norms governing the site.

Ben-Gvir visited following Hamas’ release of videos showing two emaciated Israeli hostages. The videos caused an uproar in Israel and raised pressure on the government to reach a deal to bring home from Gaza the remaining 50 hostages who were captured on Oct. 7, 2023, in the Hamas-led attack that triggered the war.

During his visit, Ben-Gvir called for Israel to annex the Gaza Strip and encourage Palestinians to leave, reviving rhetoric that has complicated negotiations to end the war. He raged against a video that Hamas released Saturday of 24-year-old hostage Evyatar David showing him emaciated in a dimly lit Gaza tunnel, and called it an attempt to pressure Israel.

Ben-Gvir's previous visits to the site have prompted threats from Palestinian militant groups. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fueled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021.

Sunday's visit was swiftly condemned as an incitement by Palestinian leaders as well as Jordan, the Al-Aqsa Mosque's custodian, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The Houthi rebels in Yemen said they fired three drones at Israel; Israel's military said a “suspicious aerial target launched from Yemen” was intercepted.

Videos of hungry and suffering Israeli hostages

The videos — released by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza — triggered outrage across the political spectrum after the hostages, speaking under duress, described grim conditions and an urgent lack of food. Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday urging Israel and the United States to urgently pursue the hostages' release after suspending ceasefire talks.

“In this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,” Tami Braslavski, mother of one of the hostages, Rom Braslavski, said in a statement.

Netanyahu’s office said it spoke with the Red Cross to seek help in providing the hostages with food and medical care. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “appalled by the harrowing videos” and called for access to the hostages.

Right-wing politicians who oppose deals with Hamas said the videos reinforced their conviction that Hamas must be obliterated.

“From here we need to bring a message and ensure that from today, we conquer all of the Gaza Strip, declare sovereignty over all of the Gaza Strip, take out every Hamas member and encourage voluntary emigration,” Ben-Gvir said on a video posted on social media after his visit to the holy site.

Deadly chaos around food distribution points

Palestinians reported more deadly violence at aid sites Sunday, and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said a staff member was killed when Israeli forces shelled its office. Israel’s military said it was reviewing the Red Crescent’s claim. The Red Cross called it an “outrage” that so many first responders have been killed in the war.

Hospital officials said Israeli forces killed at least 33 Palestinians seeking food, and witnesses described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged toward aid sites.

Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts warn faces “a worst-case scenario of famine ″ because of Israel’s blockade. No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and aid has been limited since then.

Witness Yousef Abed described coming under indiscriminate fire and seeing at least three people bleeding on the ground.

“I couldn’t stop and help them because of the bullets,” he said.

Two hospitals in southern and central Gaza reported receiving bodies from routes leading to the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites, including 11 killed in the Teina area while trying to reach a distribution point in Khan Younis.

Three Palestinian eyewitnesses, including one traveling through Teina, told The Associated Press they saw soldiers open fire on the routes, which are in military zones secured by Israeli forces. Israel's military said it was not aware of casualties as a result of its gunfire near aid sites in the south.

The United Nations says 859 people were killed near GHF sites from May 27 to July 31 and hundreds of others have been killed along the routes of U.N.-led food convoys.

GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel’s military has said it only fires warning shots. Both claim the death tolls have been exaggerated.

GHF's media office said Sunday there was no gunfire “near or at our sites.”

More deaths from hunger

Gaza's Health Ministry said six more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, bringing the malnutrition-related death toll among adults to 82 over the five weeks that such deaths have been counted. Malnutrition-related deaths are not included in the ministry’s count of war casualties.

Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began, the ministry said.

Israel has taken steps in the past week to increase the flow of food into Gaza, saying 1,200 aid trucks have entered while hundreds of pallets have been airdropped, but U.N. and relief groups say conditions have not improved. The U.N. has said 500 to 600 trucks a day are needed.

Anger has led to protests overseas, including one in Australia on Sunday by thousands of people.

About 1,200 people were killed in the 2023 attack that sparked the war and another 251 were abducted. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn’t provided its own account of casualties.

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• Metz reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo.

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