Over 150 people were injured in skirmishes at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Palestinian medics claim more than 150 Palestinians have been hurt in skirmishes with Israeli police at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Officers entered the location after being attacked with pyrotechnics, stones, and other objects, according to Israeli police.

According to them, three Israeli police officers were injured.

The Temple Mount, as it is known by Muslims and Jews, is a flashpoint site that is at the center of disputed historical claims.

Following deadly assaults in Israel and Palestinian casualties during following Israeli incursions in the occupied West Bank, Israeli-Palestinian tensions have risen sharply.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, a 17-year-old Palestinian was killed on Friday after being injured in an Israeli operation in the Jenin district of the northern West Bank on Thursday.

Since Israel stepped upsweeps in the West Bank, focusing on the Jenin sector after a Palestinian killed three Israelis in Tel Aviv last Thursday, more than 20 Palestinians have been slain, many of whom have been identified as gunmen.

In barely over two weeks, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians have launched four attacks in Israel. The attacks resulted in the deaths of 12 Israelis and two Ukrainians, marking the worst period of attacks in Israel in over 15 years and putting the country on edge.

At around 04:00 (01:00 GMT), scores of Palestinians marched onto the compound, some waving flags of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and began throwing stones and pyrotechnics, according to Israeli police.

The police said they waited until Muslim Friday prayers had ended before entering the site to disperse the rioters, who had started throwing stones toward the Western Wall below the compound, where Jewish worshippers were.

Volatile time

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned Israel's actions at the compound, saying it held it "fully and directly responsible for this crime and its consequences".

The clashes come after militant groups in Gaza called for "hundreds of thousands" of Palestinians to converge on the compound on Friday "to protect our nation and our mosque".

Last year Hamas, which governs Gaza, fired rockets toward Jerusalem following clashes at the mosque compound after weeks of unrest in the city, triggering a devastating 11-day war with Israel.

Muslims refer to the compound as Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), and it is also known as al-Aqsa Mosque in its entirety. It is Islam's third holiest location.

The site of two biblical temples is important to Jews, and it is considered the holiest site in Judaism. One of the most sensitive problems in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, as well as between Israel and the rest of the Muslim world, is the subject of rights.

The recent uptick in violence coincides with the commencement of the Jewish festival of Passover on Friday night, as well as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the Christian festival of Easter.

Religious Jews visit the site in greater numbers during Passover, which Palestinians consider to be provocative.