Hundreds of religious Jews continued their visits to the Temple Mount on Monday in celebration of the festival of Passover, despite explicit threats made by Jordan the same morning over the issue. Five Jews were removed from the site for violating the strict rules enforced, including the Rabbi of the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), after 13 others were similarly removed on Sunday.

The Jordanian government issued a harsh statement warning Israel of “serious consequences” to what it described as “the invasion of settler groups and Israeli occupying forces in the Al-Aqsa mosque.”

“Israel’s offenses against worshipers on the holy site are a violation of international laws and conventions and could have dangerous consequences,” threatened Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Al Momani in a statement to Jordanian media.

Al Momani demanded that “Israeli occupation authorities immediately stop such moves and deny entry to settlers and Israeli forces to the yards of the holy shrine and allow Palestinian worshipers to enter the mosque.”

Non-Muslims are only allowed to enter the contested compound during specific hours and from one gate only, even though the site is holy to both Jews and Muslims. Religious Jews have additional restrictions. They are divided into small groups, are closely supervised by policemen and Jordanian Waqf members during their visit, and have their path and walking pace dictated by the Israel Police. The restrictions include the prohibition of praying or the appearance of praying, bowing, singing, drinking water from fountains, or walking along a path different from that of the group.

The Israel Police has bolstered its presence in Jerusalem this holiday week with over one thousand extra policemen patrolling the city.

According to the police and to Temple Mount right groups, 204 Jews entered the Temple Mount compound during Monday visiting hours. According to Temple Mount rights groups, 78 of the Jews only entered for a very brief time before being escorted out by police forces. Approximately 20 more Jews were not allowed to enter the compound at all.

During the same hours, the police reported that 638 tourists visited the site. Muslims have relatively free access to the site and Muslim visitors are not counted by the police.

Meanwhile, many thousands of Orthodox Jews gathered at the adjacent Western Wall area for the traditional priestly blessing that has taken place every Passover and Sukkot for the past 40 years and was attended by Israel’s chief rabbis.