Hamas Banner with Image of Terrorist Hung on Temple Mount as 200,000 Muslims Attend Eid Prayers

A large Hamas banner with a photo of a terrorist was raised on the Temple Mount on Monday morning, as more than 200,000 Muslims ascended the Al Aqsa Mosque for Eid al-Fitr prayers marking the end of Ramadan.

Cheers from the vast crowd were heard as the banner, which contained an Eid blessing for the “Arab and Muslim Ummah,” was hoisted near the Dome of the Rock.

Chants of “We will sacrifice our lives for the sake of al-Aqsa” were heard.

The banner was in place for at least 20 minutes before Israel Police removed it. A police statement later said a suspect had been arrested over the matter.  Police also arrested a Palestinian for setting fire to Israeli flag on the Temple Mount compound the previous day.

The chief imam for the site, Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, said this year’s turnout, the highest in many years, was likely due to the recent clashes on the site.

The Temple Mount compound, which houses the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine, is Judaism’s holiest site as the location of the biblical temples and Islam’s third holiest site.

“People wanted to send a message that Al-Aqsa is the inviolate right of Muslims,” al-Kiswani said.

Palestinian rioters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli police from inside the Al Aqsa Mosque over the past month. Similar clashes triggered last May’s 11-day conflict with the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

On Tuesday , the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, threatened that if Israel “violates” the Al Aqsa Mosque, it would launch another war.

“All factions of the resistance in the Gaza Strip must be prepared and ready,” he said. “After Eid al-Fitr, the Israeli invasions of the al-Aqsa Mosque will begin, and the temporary and spatial division phase will begin.”