Chairman of Hamas's political bureau Khaled Mashaal said that the Israeli practices in Jerusalem aim at Judaizing and changing the city’s identity and history, stressing that everyone shares individual and collective responsibility for liberating Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine.

Meshaal was addressing worshippers at the Abu Bakr Assidiq Mosque in Pretoria, where hundreds had attended to listen to Mashaal and ask him questions after he led them in Maghrib Prayer.

He explained that the Israeli occupation seeks to impose spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque. "Imagine someone coming and dividing your mosque, saying this ‘is my half’. This is the spatial division they are trying to impose in Al-Aqsa," Meshaal said.

Dr. Fairuz Othman, a prominent pro-Palestine activist in South Africa described Mishaal’s stopover as a historic moment, saying that the visit has long been awaited by South African people for more than two decades.