Occupied Jerusalem, September 28 (QNA) - Some 900 colonists had strutted into Al-Aqsa Mosque since dawn Monday, spearheaded by Israeli occupation army Defense Minister Israel Katz and extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) has said.

Both Israeli officials were heavily escorted by occupation police and performed Talmudic rituals in the eastern area of Al-Aqsa, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.

The Mosque has witnessed a surge in settler incursions since the start of the Jewish holidays, amid heightened protection by Israeli forces and military measures in Jerusalem.

The occupation authorities and settlers are taking advantage of the holidays to impose new realities on the ground, run roughshod over the Mosque and disrupt the lives and daily movement of Jerusalemites.

Intriguingly, 1,500 settlers and rabbis marched into the Mosque Sunday and performed Talmudic rituals and prayers, particularly near Qattanin Gate, one of the Mosque's gates.

The move coincided with the introduction of what are called "plant offerings" into its courtyards, along with chanting, forming dance circles, and performing prostrations and collective prostration.

The scenes reflect a continued escalation in imposing Talmudic rituals inside the Mosque and attempts to alter the existing historical and legal character there.

These antics amount to provocative conduct that violates the sanctity of the Mosque and offends Muslims' religious sentiments, the Governorate cautioned, underscoring that the incursions are increasingly turning into a venue for openly performing religious rituals inside the Mosque.

It further warned that allowing these practices inside Al-Aqsa, along with providing military protection for those intruders, represents a grave escalation in the 'fait accompli' policy and an attempt to entrench the temporal and spatial division of the Mosque by exploiting Jewish religious holidays to impose new rituals at one of Islam's holiest sites, amid restrictions on the entry and movement of worshipers. (QNA)