Nearly 15,000 Israelis stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in 2016

Nearly 15,000 Israelis have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in al-Quds ('Jerusalem') since the beginning of 2016, an Islamic group says.

The group, the Islamic Waqf in Quds, which controls and manages current Islamic edifices on and around the Haram esh-Sharif (Temple Mount), released the figure in a recent statement.

On Thursday, Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani denounced any attempt by Israelis to storm or enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as illegal and an aggressive act against the Islamic holy site. He underlined Jordan’s determination to maintain the status quo at Al-Aqsa.

Momani’s remarks came in reaction to the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by 149 Israeli settlers on Thursday.

Temple Mount is also a site of worship by Jews. According to an agreement signed between the Tel Aviv regime and the Jordanian government — which administers Al-Aqsa Mosque — after Israel’s occupation of al-Quds in 1967, visits to the compound by Israelis are permitted but non-Muslim worship is prohibited. Jordan is one of the only two Arab countries that have open diplomatic ties with Israel.

Muslims consider trespasses by Israelis into the Al-Aqsa Mosque as part of a provocative Israeli campaign. They say the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the demography of the holy city of al-Quds, where the mosque is located.

In August 2015, Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the compound, which is under the administration of Jordan, sparking a fresh wave of tensions with Palestinians.

Over the past decades, Tel Aviv has been trying to change the demographic makeup of al-Quds by constructing illegal settlements, destroying historical sites, and expelling the local Palestinian population.