ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday condemned the “sacrilegious storming” of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir along with a group of settlers under heavy police protection this week.
The incident came after thousands of Palestinian Muslims gathered peacefully for Eid Al-Fitr prayers at Islam’s third holiest mosque amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Ben-Gvir, who has previously staged similar displays of force, has been widely criticized by majority-Muslim nations, who called it an act of deliberate provocation during a religious festivity.
Islamabad also condemned the escalation of the Israeli onslaught against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“Pakistan denounces Israel’s latest military offensive aimed at establishing new security corridors, including the illegal seizure of the Morag Corridor and further annexation of Palestinian land,” the foreign office said in a statement.
“Of particular concern is the sacrilegious storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex by Israeli occupying forces, during the holy occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr,” it added. “This provocative act not only violates the sanctity of one of Islam’s holiest sites but also demonstrates Israel’s determination to escalate tensions and pursue its expansionist agenda at the expense of regional peace.”
The foreign office also condemned recent Israeli air and ground operations in Gaza, including the targeting of a UN-run clinic in Jabalia sheltering displaced civilians, describing it as a violation of international humanitarian law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week announced the creation of a new security corridor known as the “Morag Corridor,” aimed at cutting off the southern city of Rafah in Gaza from Khan Younis.
The move, referencing the area around the former Israeli settlement of Morag, is part of what Netanyahu described as a broader strategy to “divide up” the Palestinian enclave and increase pressure on Hamas to release Israeli hostages.
Pakistan reiterated its support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Pakistan condemns Israeli far-right minister’s storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque
https://arab.news/g2zck
Pakistan condemns Israeli far-right minister’s storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque
- Incident took place as thousands of Muslims gathered at Islam’s third holiest site for Eid Al-Fitr prayers
- Itamar Ben-Gvir’s show of force drew criticism from Muslim nations who called it an act of provocation
Four people, including two policemen, killed in twin blasts in northwest Pakistan
- Attack on police van in South Waziristan and motorbike-mounted IED in Lakki Marwat hits KP province
- Violence comes amid a surge in militancy and cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and about 20 others wounded in two separate blasts in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in a region grappling with militant violence.
One explosion targeted a police patrol van in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan district near the Afghan border, while another blast caused by explosives mounted on a motorbike struck a market area in Lakki Marwat district, according to police officials and preliminary reports.
The incidents come amid rising militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan, straining relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul, with both sides engaged in a military conflict since last month.
“The control room received information in the evening about a bomb blast targeting a police van in Wana Bazaar,” a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, confirmed while speaking to Arab News over the phone.
He confirmed two deaths in the incident while saying more than 25 people had been injured.
The official said rescue teams responded promptly and shifted three seriously injured people to a nearby hospital in Wana.
In another incident during the day in Lakki Marwat, an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike exploded near shops.
“Two people have been killed and about 10 have been injured in an IED blast in Lakki Marwat,” Raza Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bannu, told Arab News.
“The deceased are identified as Shoaib Ur Rehman and Furqan Ullah,” he added. “Shoaib, the owner of the shop, was the brother of the Lakki peace committee head.”
Peace committees in the region are informal, community-based groups that work with security forces to report militant activity and maintain order, making their members frequent targets of attacks.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the incidents.
“I strongly condemn the blast near a police patrolling vehicle in Wana Bazaar,” Naqvi said in a statement, confirming the killing of four people, including two police personnel.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he said, noting the force had made “unforgettable sacrifices” in the fight against militant groups.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory — a charge Kabul denies — as cross-border tensions between the two neighbors have escalated.
