Jerusalem: Tuesday marked the first time an ultranationalist cabinet member had visited a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem since joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new far-right government last week. Palestinians view the visit as provocative.
A 15-year-old boy was reportedly killed by Israeli army fire earlier in the day close to the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to Palestinian officials. According to the Israeli military, a person engaged in violent altercations with soldiers was shot by Israeli forces.
Itamar Ben-Gvir was accompanied by a large number of police officers as he entered the area in Jerusalem known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
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Ben-Gvir has long advocated for increased Jewish access to the holy site, which Palestinians consider provocative and a possible sign that Israel will eventually seize control of the compound. The majority of rabbis forbade Jews from praying there, but there has been a growing group of Jews who support worship there in recent years.
The most recent altercation between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces occurred at the location in April of last year.
Hamas, an Islamic militant organisation, issued threats after Ben-Gvir announced earlier this week that he intended to visit the location.
After his visit, Ben-Gvir posted on Twitter that the site is "open to all and if Hamas thinks that if it threatens me, it will deter me, they should think again."
According to Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, Ben-Gvir entering the site on Tuesday was "a continuation of Zionist aggression against our holy sites and war against our Arab identity.
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"Our Palestinian people will continue to protect Al-Aqsa mosque and their sacred sites, "said he.
Following Ben-departure, Gvir's Ofir Gendelman, who has long been Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Arabic-language spokesman, released a video demonstrating that the "situation is completely calm" at the holy site.
The hilltop shrine is a powerful symbol for the Palestinians and the third holiest place in Islam. It is situated on a broad esplanade that is also considered to be the Temple Mount by Jews because it was once the site of two Jewish temples in antiquity.
The conflict between Israel and Palestine is centred on competing claims to the location, which has in the past led to numerous outbreaks of violence.
Ben-Gvir is the leader of the Jewish Power ultranationalist religious faction and has a history of making incendiary statements and acting violently toward Palestinians.
After months of escalating hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians, he visited. The Israeli rights organisation B'Tselem claimed on Monday that 2022 would surpass 2004 as the deadliest year for Palestinians since the start of the Palestinian uprising. According to the report, Israeli fire killed close to 150 Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Since a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last spring that resulted in the deaths of 19, the Israeli military has been conducting raids into Palestinian cities and towns almost every day. At least nine more Israelis were killed in a new wave of attacks in the fall.
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Adam Ayyad, 15, died from a bullet wound to the chest in the shooting incident on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. According to the Israeli military, Border Police officers were attacked in the nearby Dheisha refugee camp. It was confirmed that a person was shot and that troops fired at people throwing firebombs.
The majority of Palestinians killed, according to the Israeli army, were militants. But there have also been deaths among youths throwing stones in protest of the incursions and unrelated individuals.