New tensions between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators broke out on Friday morning at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
Friday's events come after a month of deadly violence and simmering tensions, as the Jewish festival of Passover overlaps with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
About 4am people threw stones towards the Wailing Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, which is just below the Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to a statement by police.
Over the past week, more than 200 people, mostly Palestinians, were wounded in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
This led to further escalation as Palestinian armed groups fired rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian demonstrators clash with Israeli police at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound after the morning prayer in east Jerusalem on April 22, 2022, on the third Friday of the holy month of the Ramadan. Source: Getty / AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images
The massive deployment of police forces, as well as the increasing presence of observant Jews in the holy site, were widely perceived by Palestinians and several countries in the region as a "provocation".
Jews are allowed to visit under certain conditions but are not allowed to pray there, according to the status quo agreement.
A group of religious Jewish men and women walk past the Dome of the Rock during their visit to the Temple Mount, which is known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary), at the Aqsa mosques compound in the old city of Jerusalem on April 20, 2022. Source: Getty / MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images
Several Arab ministers gathered in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Thursday and condemned "the Israeli attacks and violations against the faithful in Al-Aqsa Mosque".
Israel is enforcing a long-standing ban on Jewish prayer at the compound of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, rejecting an Arab League accusation that it was allowing such worship to take place, Reuters reported earlier.
Violence at the compound, revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as Al-Haram al-Shareef (the Noble Sanctuary), has surged over the past week, raising concerns about a slide back into the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli security forces have been on high alert with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan coinciding with the Jewish holiday Passover and Christianity's Easter.
The Arab League said Israel has broken the status quo and was allowing Jews to pray at the compound, calling it a "provocation".
Israel, however, said there has been no change in its long-standing ban on Jewish prayer at the flashpoint site.
"Israel is maintaining the status quo, which includes the freedom of prayer for Muslims and the right to visit for non-Muslims. The police enforce the ban on Jewish prayer," Lior Haiat, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday.
"Over the last few years, Israel is not allowing Jews to visit the Temple Mount during the last 10 days of Ramadan to prevent any friction," he said.
That 10-day period starts on Friday.
A US State Department delegation met separately with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to try to ease tensions.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the delegation that Israel was responsible for the escalation and asked that the United States intervene, according to a Palestinian Authority official.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid discussed with the US envoys "Israel's efforts in this very challenging period to preserve the status quo on the Temple Mount," and called on regional leaders to help restore calm, according to a ministry statement.
The future of Jerusalem is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Old City is in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in a 1967 war and annexed in a move that has not won international recognition.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a state they seek to establish in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
