Here is a recap of today’s events

• Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited and prayed at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Sunday, triggering fears that the provocative move could further escalate tensions. The visit to al-Asqa mosque came as hospitals in Gaza reported that 27 more Palestinians seeking food aid were killed by Israeli fire.
• During his visit, Ben-Gvir renewed calls for Israel to “declare sovereignty over Gaza” and to “encourage voluntary migration”.
• Ben-Gvir’s visit was swiftly condemned as an incitement by Palestinian leaders as well as Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Sufyan Qudah, spokesperson for the foreign ministry in neighbouring Jordan, which serves as the custodian of the al-Aqsa mosque, condemned what he called “provocative incursions by the extremist minister” and implored Israel to prevent escalation.
• The Palestinian ministry of health reported that 119 people were killed in the past 24 hours amid ongoing Israeli strikes, including 15 bodies recovered from beneath rubble. The ministry said the total death toll since the start of the war on 7 October 2023 has now reached 60,839, with 149,588 people injured.
• The health ministry also reported that six adults have died as a result of famine and severe malnutrition within the past 24 hours. According to the ministry, this brings the total number of deaths attributed to hunger related causes in Gaza to 175, including 93 children.
• The humanitarian organisation Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that one of its staff members was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli attack on its Khan Younis headquarters in southern Gaza early this morning.
• Thousands of Palestinians protested in the occupied West Bank’s major cities, rallying against the war in Gaza and in support of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
• Fresh clashes broke out in Syria, straining a fragile ceasefire and calling into question the ability of the transitional government to exert its authority across the whole country.
• French president Emmanuel Macron has condemned Hamas’ “inhumanity without bounds” after the group released videos showing two visibly emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister conducting a Jewish prayer on the Al-Aqsa compound in east Jerusalem drew condemnation from the Palestinian Authority, which called it a “dangerous escalation”, as well as Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Itamar Ben Gvir publicly carried out the highly contentious move – that violates a long-held understanding at the site – on Sunday.

In a statement filmed at the compound, Ben Gvir said that Israel should respond to the “horror videos” of two Israeli hostages released by Palestinian militant groups this week by “extending Israeli sovereignty over the entire Gaza Strip” the same way it imposed it on the Temple Mount.

Israel occupied and annexed east Jerusalem in 1967, in a move not recognised by much of the international community. Ben Gvir’s action was described by the Israeli left-wing newspaper Haaretz as a “provocation”.