The ultranationalist Ben-Gvir's visit to the holy area, where both the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa mosque are located, is generally seen as a provocation.
Both Muslims and Jews claim the area on a hill in Jerusalem's old town.
Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the area – which in Arabic is called al-Haram al-Sharif – at certain times, but they are not allowed to pray or display religious symbols.
Restrictions ignored
In recent years, the restrictions have been increasingly ignored by religious nationalists like Ben-Gvir, which has sometimes led to violent reactions from Palestinians. Since he took office in 2022, Ben-Gvir has made recurring visits to the Temple Mount.
Ben-Gvir left the government in January in protest against the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. He returned, however, in March when Israel resumed the war against the terrorist-stamped Hamas, which calls the visit a "provocative and dangerous escalation" and says it is "part of the ongoing genocide of our Palestinian people".
Criticized within the government
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry also condemns the visit as a "storming" and "an unacceptable provocation", while Saudi Arabia expresses its "strongest condemnation".
The influential ultra-orthodox politician Moshe Gafni, who is part of the Israeli government, also criticizes Ben-Gvir's visit.
"It does not demonstrate sovereignty, on the contrary, it desecrates the holy site and provokes unnecessary incitement in the Muslim world and beyond", he writes on X.
