Israeli settlers have increasingly tried to smuggle animals to sacrifice at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in recent days, around the Jewish holiday of Passover, triggering widespread fears of an attempt to take over one of the holiest sites in Islam.
According to the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem governorate, there were at least seven attempts to smuggle animals on Sunday. Israeli authorities have closed the compound for 40 days, including during Ramadan and Eid, using the war on Iran as justification.
Various reports said that settlers were caught in the Old City, leading to Al Aqsa, with goats and sheep.
Despite Israeli authorities reopening the holy site to Muslims early on Thursday morning, there have been repeated Israeli incursions.
Ismail Patel, the UK-based author chair of Friends of al-Aqsa, told The New Arab that the animal sacrifice attempts are not just a religious provocation, but a political one. "It signals that they are no longer petitioning for access, they are asserting ownership...the sacrifice does not merely accompany their ambition to demolish al-Aqsa and establish a Third Temple - it enacts ambition. It is worship as conquest, and that is why it must be named for what it is - terrorism". ‘Third Temple’ The bid to smuggle and sacrifice animals at Al-Aqsa is based on the belief of Jewish extremists that al-Aqsa must be destroyed to be replaced by a "Third Temple".
The "Third Temple", according to some interpretations of Judaism, must replace al-Aqsa after the site is purified through a series of rituals.
The sacrifices violate a long-standing status quo that forbids Jewish worship at Al-Aqsa, which is the third most holy site in Islam.
Palestinians have long warned that there have been concerted efforts to ‘Judaise’ al-Aqsa, with far-right Israeli extremist figures frequently storming the site, which is the first direction Muslims around the world prayed towards before the Kaa’ba in Makkah. The Jerusalem governorate added that "Third Temple" organisations had exploited the unprecedented closure of al-Aqsa in order to attempt to carry out sacrifices.
The governorate called for international support to put a stop to the ritual attempts and ensure the protection of the holy site and its Islamic identity and status. Exploiting wartime According to Patel, the joint US-Israel war on Iran, coupled with the Israeli wars on Lebanon and Gaza, have been major factors contributing to the gradual attempts to by Jewish extremists to take over al-Aqsa, as the diverted attention has allowed settlers to exploit the closure of the site. "Every major military escalation in the region has been accompanied by a quiet but decisive encroachment on Al-Aqsa," he said. "The most striking recent example: the Israeli Home Front Command unilaterally declared that activities at Al-Aqsa would resume from 6:00 am. A military body setting the opening hours of an Islamic Sanctuary, it has absolutely no legal jurisdiction over," Patel explained, referring to the partial opening of al-Aqsa following the lengthy forced closure.
"...The fact that this usurpation is happening openly, without serious challenge from the international community, is not just alarming it is a profound and accelerating normalisation of colonial control over one of Islam's holiest sites," he added.
Israeli authorities reopened al-Aqsa with extended opening hours for Jewish 'visitors' - from 6:30 am to 11:30 am and 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm - amounting to seven hours a day. This, according to Patel, has massively emboldened Temple Mount groups.
"They now have tangible evidence that the balance of power at Al-Aqsa is shifting in their direction. The sacrifice attempts are not a fringe provocation. They are the leading edge of a movement that reads every concession, every hour of expanded access, every unchallenged incursion, as confirmation that their goal is within reach," he continued. Concerted efforts In recent years, there has been a concerted attempt by Jewish groups in pushing for the sacrifice of animals at al-Aqsa.
One group, The Temple Institute, which was established in the 1980s, has the chief aim of recreating the Jewish temple destroyed by the Romans almost two millennia ago, with members taking part in efforts to raise a herd of red cows to sacrifice there.
The group believes that the remains of the destroyed temple lie beneath the Dome of the Rock, and have been working to raise red heifers to meet very specific Biblical requirements, so they can be sacrificed there and 'purify' the site.
According to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, many organisations are now also using AI-generated images and videos to mobilise people, storm Al-Aqsa, and carry out the ritual.
אם נרצה אין זו אגדה pic.twitter.com/4HyvDYn3vO — ארנון סגל (@arnonsegal1) April 1, 2026 Activists warn that the images are normalising Jewish rituals at al-Aqsa, making them less shocking.
This has raised alarm among Palestinians, particularly following reports in Israeli media that police detained at least 14 Jewish worshippers on 1 April after they attempted to break into al-Aqsa to perform the ritual.
Experts, however, argue that the detention of the individuals are limited and temporary, and that there have been longstanding efforts to encroach on the site gradually, eventually paving the way for a new status quo.
Despite increased incursions in al-Aqsa, a change in the legal status quo, which states that non-Muslims are only allowed to visit the complex during certain designated hours, would cause global upheaval and condemnation.
The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (Endowment), the legal entity with exclusive jurisdiction, has repeatedly warned against any changes to the site, including attempts at Jewish prayer there.