JERUSALEM - Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, an action that has drawn sharp condemnation from Jordan and the Palestinian Authority as a violation of long-standing religious agreements.

The visit marks Ben-Gvir's third incursion into the holy site, Islam's third holiest, this year. He was accompanied by a group of Israeli settlers and moved through the compound under heavy protection from Israeli security forces. Video distributed by the minister's office showed him walking through the site, which is administered by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf.

"Today, I feel like the owner here," Ben-Gvir said in the video. "There is still more to do, more to improve. I keep pushing the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] to do more and more."

Under the status quo arrangement in place since 1967, non-Muslims are permitted to visit the compound but are not allowed to pray there. However, Ben-Gvir and other Jewish visitors were seen engaging in what officials described as Jewish prayers at the site, a move that breaks the long-established agreement.

Jordan's Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling the visit a violation of the status quo, "a desecration of its sanctity, a condemnable escalation and an unacceptable provocation." Jordan serves as the custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority's presidency also condemned the "storming" of the mosque compound, describing it as a blatant violation of the historical and legal status quo at the site, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Ben-Gvir, who has stormed the compound at least 16 times since taking office in 2022, is a prominent figure in a settler movement that has increasingly called for greater Jewish control over the site. He has previously expressed intentions to build a synagogue in place of the holy Muslim site. There was no immediate comment from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The visit comes amid heightened tensions. Israeli authorities had closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the public for 40 days following the start of its war on Iran on February 28. This year also marked the first time since Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 that authorities prevented Eid al-Fitr prayers at the site.

The mosque reopened to Palestinian worshippers on April 9, but Wafa reported that later the same day, Israeli settlers stormed the compound and performed Talmudic rituals under police protection. The agency also noted that Israeli authorities have extended the daily windows for settler incursions by an additional 30 minutes.

Separate Arrests in West Bank

In a separate development on Sunday, Israeli forces arrested at least 18 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank. According to Wafa, six people were arrested during a raid on the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem. A child and a young man were also injured during an Israeli military raid in the city of Nablus.

Violence has surged across the West Bank since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank during that period, with thousands more forcibly displaced.

Israeli military operations continue simultaneously in Gaza, as well as ongoing bombardment of Lebanon.