“Temple” groups prepare for large-scale Al-Aqsa incursion
QUDS, July 20 (YPA) – The so-called “Temple” organizations and extremist settler groups are preparing to carry out a large-scale incursion into the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday, July 23, 2026, in an attempt to exceed the threshold of 5,000 participants in a single day.
This figure has been a target sought by these settler groups since 2021, as part of an escalating campaign aimed at increasing the number of participants in incursions and establishing a broader presence inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Preparations for marking what is referred to as the “Temple Destruction Remembrance Day” this year are taking place on an intensified scale, with settler groups seeking to organize the largest incursion into Al-Aqsa Mosque since these events began. This coincides with moves inside the Israeli Knesset and Palestinian calls for mobilization and staying in Jerusalem and at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Preparations for the planned incursions have also witnessed political and field escalation. The Israeli Knesset recently held a conference attended by ministers and Knesset members, during which calls were raised to alter the existing status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque and allow settlers to perform prayers and Talmudic rituals inside it.
Some participants also called for preventing Muslims from entering the mosque unless settlers are allowed to perform their prayers there with complete freedom.
In the same context, the so-called “Temple organizations” held their annual conference in Jerusalem days ago to coordinate preparations for the planned incursion marking the “Temple Destruction Remembrance Day,” as well as preparations for the Jewish holiday season. They also called for organizing a “Jerusalem Sovereignty March” passing through the Old City and reaching the Western Wall plaza.
The preparations are not limited to increasing the number of participants in incursions, but also include intensifying the performance of Talmudic rituals inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, including group prayers, prostrations, and the bringing in of religious scrolls and publicly reading from them — a move that raises concerns of further tensions in the city.
Researchers say these developments reflect a shift in the project of changing the existing situation at Al-Aqsa Mosque, moving from an initiative led by settler groups toward a trend receiving increasing political and official support.
It is noted that the number of participants in the same event increased from around 2,200 in 2022 and 2023, to 3,000 in 2024, and then nearly 4,000 in 2025, in a rising trend that reflects a systematic strategy, according to Palestinian sources, to establish a greater presence inside the mosque’s courtyards.
@E.Y.M