Israel's Right wing Ben-Gvir prayed for complete victory

8/10/2025 17:46

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir prayed at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue "complete victory" over Hamas in Gaza.



In a video on the edge of one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East, Ben-Gvir said that two years after the October 7 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war, Israel was "winning" at the Jerusalem compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.



A second video showed him praying at the compound, in a fresh challenge to a decades-old understanding which allows only Muslim worship at the site.



His remarks were released as Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas are deep in indirect negotiations in Egypt to release all remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza and end the war there.



Ben-Gvir, known as a hardliner well before he helped Netanyahu form the most right-wing coalition government in Israel's history, heads the pro-settler, nationalist-religious Jewish Power party.



He has previously threatened to quit Netanyahu's government unless Hamas is utterly destroyed.