Hamas urges Palestinians to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Ramadan

Hamas urged Palestinians on Wednesday to march to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque at the start of Ramadan next month, raising the stakes in negotiations for a truce in Gaza, which U.S. President Joe Biden hopes will be in place by then.

The call by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh followed comments by Biden, broadcast on Tuesday, that there was an agreement in principle for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas during Ramadan, while hostages held by the militants are released.

Biden said he hoped such an agreement, which a source said would also allow more aid into the stricken Palestinian enclave and bring the release of Palestinians prisoners, could be finalised by March 4. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is expected to begin on the evening of March 10.

Both Israel and Hamas have played down the prospects for a truce and Qatari mediators have said the most contentious issues are still unresolved.

Israel said on Monday it would allow Ramadan prayers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque but set limits according to security needs, setting the stage for possible clashes if crowds of Palestinians turn up and Gaza violence is still raging.

“This is a call on our people in Jerusalem and the West Bank to march to Al-Aqsa since the first day of Ramadan,” said Haniyeh, who described Hamas’s Oct. 7 rampage into Israel as a move to end Israeli attacks on Palestinian territories and sites.

In a televised speech, he said Hamas was showing flexibility in negotiations with Israel but at the same time was ready to continue fighting. Israel has said any deal with Hamas would require the group to drop “outlandish demands”.

Hamas is weighing a proposal, agreed by Israel at talks with mediators in Paris last week, for a 40-day ceasefire, which would be the first extended truce of the five-month-old war. Both sides have delegations in Qatar this week hammering out details.

A senior source close to the talks said Israeli troops would pull out of populated areas under the agreement. But it did not appear to meet Hamas’s demand for a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal, or resolve the fate of fighting-age Israeli men among those being held by Hamas.