Israeli crowd led by hard-right politician Ben-Gvir storms Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque - Islam's third holiest site - on Jewish holiday, sparking rare condemnation from Netanyahu amid rising tensions with Iran and Hezbollah

An Israeli crowd led by hard-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed Jerusalem's most holy site today in a pilgrimage seen by Muslims as provocative. 

The move launches a fresh challenge to rules covering one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East - with tensions over the compound fuelling violence before.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the visit - which took place on a jewish holiday- as a 'provocative intrusion' that endangered the fragile status quo regarding the Jerusalem compound.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denied there would be any change to rules that prohibit Jews from praying at the site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews, and rebuked Ben-Gvir, the national security minister.

'There is no private policy of any minister on the Temple Mount - neither the Minister of National Security nor any other minister,' Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

His remarks come at an especially sensitive time, with the war in Gaza at risk of escalating into a wider conflict, potentially drawing in Iran and its regional proxies.

Ben-Gvir, Israel's National Security Minister, visited the site as Jews marked Tisha B'Av, a day of mourning commemorating the destruction of the biblical Temples.

It marks a day when a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem in the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 587 BCE. 

The Al-Aqsa compound is revered by Jews as a vestige of their two ancient temples and is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation. 

But under rules dating back decades, although Jews are allowed to visit, they may not pray there. 

'Our policy is to allow prayer,' Ben-Gvir said as he passed a line of Jewish visitors at the site earlier today. 

The Waqf, the foundation that administers the site, said some 2,250 Jews entered the site on Tuesday.

The spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Ben-Gvir's visit as a 'provocation' and called on the United States to intervene 'if it wants to prevent the region from exploding in an uncontrollable manner'.

Ben-Gvir, head of one of the religious-nationalist parties in Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, has clashed repeatedly with other ministers over his calls to allow prayer at the compound.