JERUSALEM, PALESTINE - MAY 26, 2025: More than 1,500 illegal Israeli settlers, including Knesset members, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday to mark the city’s occupation by Israel, Palestinian media said. Since early morning, the settlers forced their way into the mosque compound under heavy police protection, with many performing provocative rituals in the courtyards. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing local sources, said the settlers performed Talmudic rituals in the mosque's courtyards, with some attempting to bring Torah scrolls through the Al-Mugharbah Gate area, west of the holy mosque. Israeli flags were raised in the mosque's eastern area as settlers danced provocatively while Israeli forces erected iron barriers around Damascus Gate and the Old City areas to further impose restrictions on the entry of Palestinians, Wafa said. Settler groups have called for intensified raids on the mosque, with a provocative "flag march" scheduled later in the day through Palestinian neighborhoods. Since the outbreak of the Gaza genocide on Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli authorities have imposed strict measures limiting Palestinians’ access from the occupied West Bank into East Jerusalem. Palestinians consider these restrictions as part of Israel’s broader efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, and erase its Arab and Islamic identity. Since 2003, Israel has allowed illegal settlers into the flashpoint compound on an almost daily basis with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.