Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called an Israeli police 'attack' at the site, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said authorities must prevent rioting there. 

The latest violence appears to have been sparked over access to the site, sacred to both faiths. 

The clashes came with tensions running high after Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon last week outlawed two Muslim groups that confront Jewish visitors to the compound. 

Witnesses said police entered the mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, and caused damage. Police claimed they only closed the doors in order to prevent rioters from throwing stones and fireworks.

A police statement said the rioters barricaded themselves in the mosque overnight. It claims they rioters aimed to disrupt visits by Jews to the site ahead of the start of New Year celebrations.

Early this morning, police raided the compound, with the statement insisting it was done to ensure visits could go ahead as usual.

Once the police entered al-Aqsa, protesters inside the mosque responded with force, hurling stones and fireworks at the officers.

'Masked protesters who were inside the mosque threw stones and fireworks at police,' it said.

Police also uncovered 'suspect pipes' which they claim had the potential to be used to create an improvised explosive device. 

A witness accused police of entering the mosque much further than would have been needed to close the doors and of causing damage, saying prayer mats were partly burned. Witnesses also said a number of windows were broken. 

Police forced worshipers and volunteers to leave the site, including members of the Waqf, the Jordanian organisation that administers it, a Waqf spokesman said.

Far-right Israeli Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel was among Jewish activists who visited the site later, media reported.

'It's the first time that they evacuated all the guards,' Waqf spokesman Firas al-Dibs told AFP, adding that two had been wounded by rubber bullets. 'The director of Al-Aqsa mosque, Omar Kaswani, was injured and arrested.'

Police, who denied using rubber bullets, said calm later returned to the complex, though clashes continued outside in the alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City, with authorities firing tear gas and stun grenades.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said 20 people needed hospital treatment.

An AFP journalist saw several people being detained and heavy police deployment in the Old City. News photographers, including one from AFP, were kicked and hit by Israeli police seeking to push back crowds.

Abbas said sites such as Al-Aqsa constituted a 'red line', adding that 'we will not allow attacks against our holy places'.

'The presidency strongly condemns the attack by the occupier's military and police against the Al-Aqsa mosque and the aggression against the faithful who were there,' a statement from his office said.

(dailymail.co.uk)