Western Wall
Western WallIstock

Thousands of Jews arrived this afternoon (Tuesday) at the Western Wall plaza ahead of the end of the Tisha B'Av fast tonight.

The fast, which takes place annually on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, commemorates the destruction of the two Holy Temples by the Babylonian and Roman empires in 586 BCE and 70 CE, respectively. Religious Jews refrain from eating and drinking for a 25 hour period of mourning. They also refrain from wearing leather shoes and bathing and do not sit on anything higher than a 1-foot high stool until midday. They do not greet one another on the eve of the fast and there is no Torah study because it gladdens the heart.

Security forces have prepared for the increase in visitors to the Western Wall over the last 24 hours.

Click here to see the live cameras at the Western Wall from Arutz Sheva and ILTV.

At the same time, a record number of approximately 1,300 Jews ascended the Temple Mount Tuesday.

Several individuals were detained by police on suspicion of violating rules prohibiting Jews from praying or bringing religious items on their holiest site. One detainee was shot with a stun-gun after he was already pulled to the ground.

שוטר ירה בטייזר לעבר יהודי בירושלים

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi slammed the Jews who visited the Temple Mount today (Tuesday).

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Tuesday, Safadi said: “the number of extremists who stormed Al-Aqsa today stands at a record number that has not been recorded since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967.”

He warned that the visit of Jews to the holiest site in Judaism could cause violence and riots. "The crisis is over but further and more dangerous crises will break out as a result of Israel’s continued provocation, if Israel will not uproot the source of the tension, if the occupation will not end and if East Jerusalem will not become the capital of an independent Palestine.”