Jordan condemns storming of Al Aqsa by Israeli extremists

AMMAN — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned on Sunday the storming of Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif by extremist settlers under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces.

In a statement on Sunday, the ministry Spokesperson Sufyan Qudah underlined that the extremist settlers' storming of Al Aqsa Mosque and their "provocative" practices violated the sanctity of Islam's third holiest site and constituted a "blatant violation of international law and the existing historical and legal status quo of occupied Jerusalem and its holy sites and Israel’s commitments as an occupying power."

The spokesperson also underlined that Israel, the occupying power, is required to put an end to all violations of the historical and legal status quo of Jerusalem and attempts to impose temporal and spatial divisions at the site, stressing that "Israel' unilateral measures would increase tension and escalation and drag the entire region into the abyss."

Qudah also called for "clear and strict" international measures that denounce and stop the Israeli violations and assaults and provide protection for the Palestinian people, according to the statement.

The spokesperson also reemphasized that the 144-dunum Al Aqsa Mosque is solely an Islamic holy site and that the Jordan-run Jerusalem Awqaf and Aqsa Affairs Department is the sole authority tasked with supervising all its affairs.