Ben-Gvir talks tough on Hamas at Jerusalem holy site

STORY: "The Temple Mount is open for everybody," Ben-Gvir said as he walked the compound, "also Jews", he added, using the Jewish name for the site.

Video footage showed him strolling at the periphery of the compound, surrounded by a heavy security detail and flanked by a fellow Orthodox Jew.

An Israeli official said the 15-minute visit by Ben-Gvir, a top member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist-religious cabinet, complied with a so-called status-quo arrangement dating back decades that allows non-Muslims to visit on condition they do not pray. He did not approach the mosque.

Although the visit passed without incident, it risks stoking tensions with Palestinians that have already been running high after an upsurge in violence in the occupied West Bank in the past year.