The number of Jews who visited on Sunday marked an increase of 42% over last year’s Tisha b’Av.
Close to 1,700 Jews ascended the Temple Mount throughout the day on Tisha b’Av, which this year fell on Sunday.
Tisha b’Av is the saddest day on the Hebrew calendar, marking many tragedies, most notably the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples in Jerusalem.
The temples were located on the Temple Mount, hence the name. It is Judaism’s holiest site and Islam’s third-holiest, after Mecca and Medina.
The stream of Jewish visitors this year infuriated Islamists in Israel and the Palestinian Authority as well as the Jordanians and some other Arab countries.