US presses Israel on Temple Mount worship, Hamas calls for Al-Aqsa march

The United States urged Israel to allow “peaceful” Palestinian worship at al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount during the holy month of Ramadan, as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for all Palestinians to march to the site.

“We continue to urge Israel to facilitate access to the Temple Mount for peaceful worship during Ramadan consistent with past practice, and that will continue to be our position,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

He spoke as Israel debated how to best handle security at the religiously-sensitive site, which is the holiest in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. A long-standing status quo agreement allows only Muslim prayer at the site, while members of all other faiths can visit.

Will violence increase on Temple Mount during Ramadan? 

Concern is high about the potential for increased violence due to the religious sensitivities of the Ramadan holiday. Israel has in the past allowed only men aged 40 and over to worship at al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan.

Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has proposed that in light of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, it would be best to limit worship to those 60 and over and to ban the entry of worshipers from the West Bank.

To protest those restrictions, Haniyeh called “on our people in Jerusalem and the West Bank to march to al-Aqsa on the first day of Ramadan.”

The call, which comes amid hostage negotiations, is also seen as a move to pressure Israel to make additional concessions for a deal before the month-long holiday begins on March 10, to avoid additional outbreaks of violence.

Haniyeh also called on the self-styled Axis of Resistance – allies of Iran including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq – as well as on Arab states, to step up their support for Palestinians in Gaza, particularly in light of the difficulty of food distribution.

“It is the duty of the Arab and Islamic nations to take the initiative to break the starvation conspiracy in Gaza,” Haniyeh said.

Channel 12 reported on Wednesday night that the war cabinet was discussing the matter without Ben-Gvir. The network reported that Netanyahu, under pressure from the US and War Cabinet Ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, decided not to involve him in the decision-making process.

Ben-Gvir immediately called on Netanyahu to reject the report, arguing that the Oct. 7 massacre proved the fallacy of believing that caving to Hamas threats was a sure way to avoid violence.

Government spokesperson Tal Heirich described Haniyeh’s remarks as “very unfortunate” and accused him of “trying to drag us to wars on other fronts.

“We certainly don’t want that. We certainly will do whatever it takes to keep the calm,” she said.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas aimed to take pressure off its fighters in Gaza by forcing Israel to shift security resources to Jerusalem and the West Bank.

“We must not give them that. On the one hand, we are operating against terrorist elements, and on the other hand it is our obligation to allow freedom of worship; I think we will reach the right arrangements that would allow that.”

In Washington, Miller spoke of the importance of ensuring that Palestinian worshipers have access to al-Aqsa.

Palestinian worshipers “should have access to al-Aqsa during Ramadan,” Miller said, adding that the Biden administration had made this “clear” to Israel.

“It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s not just a matter of granting people religious freedom that they deserve and to which they have a right, but it is also a matter that directly is important to Israel’s security,” Miller said.

“It is not in Israel’s security interests to inflame tension in the West Bank or the broader region,” Miller stressed.

Reuters contributed to this report.