Israel's Ben-Gvir faces backlash over provocative Al Aqsa compound visit

Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has visited the Al Aqsa compound in a move that threatens ceasefire negotiations to end the 9-month-old war in besieged Gaza.

Ben-Gvir visited the holy site on Thursday morning and issued a statement there in defiance of an emerging ceasefire deal in Gaza, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry denounced the visit as a "provocative intrusion" that threatens the fragile condition of the Jerusalem compound.

Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned the visit in a post on X, calling it a provocative step that reflects the extreme Israeli government and its "unilateral measures and systematic policy to violate international standards."

Hours later, Netanyahu made a surprise visit to troops in the southern Gaza Strip, saying it was essential that Israel keep control of a strip of territory along Gaza's border with Egypt. His Gaza tour comes just days before he is set to give a speech to the U.S. Congress.

Israeli negotiators were in Cairo on Wednesday to press ahead with talks on a cease-fire and hostage release deal, as Israel and Hamas consider the latest proposal. In recent weeks, Israel has stepped up strikes in central Gaza, where many Palestinians have fled to escape fighting in other parts of the beleaguered territory.

Palestinian resistance group Hamas says its October 7 blitz on Israel that surprised its arch-enemy was orchestrated in response to Israeli attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque, illegal settler violence in occupied West Bank and to put Palestine question "back on the table."

In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside Gaza, including towns and other communities as far as 24 kilometres from the Gaza fence.

In some places they are said to have gunned down many soldiers as Israel's military scrambled to muster response. And upon return to Gaza, they also took along some 240 hostages, including Israeli military personnel and civilians. Dozens of the captives were later exchanged for Palestinians incarcerating in Israeli dungeons.

Since then, Israel has heavily bombarded Gaza from air, land and sea, killing nearly 38,848 Palestinians, mostly children and women, wounding more than 89,459, and displacing most of 2.3 million people in the tiny coastal enclave.

Two international courts have accused Israel of war crimes and genocide. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crammed into squalid tent camps in central and southern Gaza.

Israeli restrictions, bombing and the breakdown of law and order have limited humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine.