Four hundred ninety-four Jewish worshippers ascended the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday, the first day of Passover, a 43% increase over 2024, when 345 visited Judaism’s holiest site.

Hundreds of Jews took part in morning and afternoon services, as well as the festive Hallel and Musaf prayers, according to Beyadenu, a religious activist group that monitors Jewish visits to the Mount.

A spokesperson for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the Israel Police, told Israel National News on Monday that the rise was a “direct outcome of the policy of the national security minister, which is very different from the policies that were pursued in past years.

“The policy is to allow free worship for Jews everywhere, including on the Temple Mount,” they said, adding, “The Temple Mount is sovereign territory in the capital of the State of Israel. There is no law permitting discrimination against Jews on the Temple Mount or anywhere else in Israel, and that is the path Minister Ben-Gvir is charting for the police.”

In the last Hebrew year, the number of Jewish visitors to the Mount surpassed all previous years since Jerusalem was liberated in 1967.

In the month of Shevat, which roughly coincides with February, more than 3,000 Jews prayed at Judaism’s holiest site for the first time since the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E.

The Temple Mount Administration noted that Shevat is traditionally the least popular time for visits to the site due to rain and cold. However, this Shevat saw a 47% increase in worshippers compared to 2024.

On April 11, the Haifa District Attorney’s Office filed charges against two residents of northern Israel, accusing them of planning an attack on the Mount with a terrorist group operating in Judea and Samaria.

Image - The Dome of the Rock on Jerusalem's Temple Mount as seen from the Mount of Olives observatory, April 24, 2023. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.