Ben-Gvir prays at Jerusalem's Temple Mount, calls for 'total victory'

Israel's National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site on Monday, praying at the hilltop compound in the Old City that is revered by both Jews and Muslims.

The visit came during the Sukkot holiday and roughly three years after the October 7 attacks. In remarks delivered at the site, Ben-Gvir described the anniversary as a period of both pain and joy.

"October 7th was an enormous pain, a great pain. But today, three years later, it's Sukkot, a holiday of joy, and there is a lot to be happy about from everything that has happened since," he said.

He went on to say that Hamas had sought to defeat Israel, referring to the group's name for its attack, and asserted that Israel now holds the upper hand. "We are the masters of the house on the Temple Mount. We are the masters of the house in the prisons. We turned their terrorists' lives into hell," he said, adding that weapons had been distributed and rapid-response squads established. "Three years later, the people of Israel are heading toward total victory."

In a second recorded remark, Ben-Gvir said he was praying at the site for victory, redemption and sovereignty. "And on this holiday, I am praying here on the Temple Mount, in the most important place, for total victory, for complete redemption, for death to all the terrorists, and for sovereignty here in the most important place for the Jewish people," he said. "They wanted to win. We defeated them, first and foremost here on the Temple Mount."

The compound is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and the location of the ancient biblical Temples. Muslims refer to it as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is home today to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. The site is among the most contested in the region, and visits by senior Israeli officials have drawn heightened attention in the past.