LIVE: Palestinians and Israelis killed, scores injured in clashes over al-Aqsa
Israel is facing a day of rage over its refusal to remove metal detectors from entrances leading up to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site.
Here are the latest developments:
- Three Israeli settlers killed by Palestinian man in Halamisch settlement
- General strike called by Palestinians in East Jerusalem
- Three Palestinian teenagers killed by Israeli settlers during clashes in east Jerusalem
- Metal detectors to stay in place: Israeli Police
- Clashes began after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli policemen inside Al-Aqsa
MEE's Lubna Masarwa and Jacob Burns are in the Old City area to report on the latest developments.
Live Updates
Israeli police have fired tear gas and water cannons into crowds who are near the Old City inside East Jerusalem as thousands of Palestinians were barred from entering the al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Summary of the situation outside the old city:
- Clashes in Salah ad-Din Street after Friday prayers finished. Thousands of worshippers, barred from the Old City by Israeli forces, prayed in the street in protest of new Israeli security measures at Al-Aqsa.
- At Lions' Gate, one of the two entrances to Al-Aqsa where metal detectors have been deployed, people prayed peacefully in the streets. People there said that no one had entered through the metal detectors.
A Palestinian teenager was shot dead by an Israeli settler in an East Jerusalem neighbourhood while clashes took place near the Old City.
Videos on social media show hundreds of Palestinians holding the body of Mohammed Mahmoud Sharaf, 18, who lived in the Silwan neighbourhood near the Old City.
Hundreds of Israeli police have formed barricades to prevent thousands of Palestinian protesters from moving towards the old city, as anger grows over plans to install metal detectors on entrances to the al-Aqsa compound.
Israeli police are taking pictures of demonstrators and have deployed approximately 600 officers amid fears of potential clashes.
The Israeli authorities have banned Palestinians under the age of 50 from entering Jerusalem's old city amid fears of escalating violence.
Far-right Turkish protesters have attacked an Istanbul synagogue over the Israeli lockdown of Jerusalem's Old City.
Members of the Alperen Hearths, a religious ultra-nationalist street movement affiliated to the Great Unity Party (BBP), rallied outside the Neve Salom synagogue in central Istanbul late last night, condemning Israel as a "terror state."
“If you prevent our freedom of worship there then we will prevent your freedom of worship here,” they said in a statement, read by the group’s local chairman Kursat Mican.
According to the Dogan News Agency, protesters kicked the doors of the synagogue and threw stones, but were later dispersed.
The synagogue said it expected the authorities to investigate the incident.
“We condemn the provocative action outside the Neve Salom synagogue tonight," it said in a statement.
"We expect that the relevant authorities will take the necessary measures."
It comes following a phone call between Israeli President Reuvin Rivlin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday in a bid to calm tensions over the mounting tensions in Jerusalem.
“Given the importance that Haram al-Sharif carries for the whole Islamic world, the metal detectors put in place by Israel should be removed in the shortest possible time and an end put to the tension,” Erdogan told Rivlin.
Erdogan also expressed his “sadness” over the “casualties" caused by the attack outside the Al-Aqsa mosque on 14 July which sparked the current unrest.
Israel's security measures have effectively restricted access to the Noble Sanctuary to two gates, both of which are secured with metal detectors.
Here's the situation as of Thursday:
