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Palestinians have clashed with Israeli police in two areas of occupied East Jerusalem after Palestinian groups called for a "day of rage" over the reopening of a synagogue in the Old City.
Palestinians threw stones at Israeli police who responded with stun grenades in the Shuafat and Essawiyya neighborhoods early on Tuesday.
At least 90 people were wounded in the clashes, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, with around 15 people seriously hurt by rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas inhalation and some beaten by Israeli police.
Security forces have said about eight police were lightly injured and about 60 arrests were made.
About 3,000 police officers had been deployed in east Jerusalem and nearby villages after Hamas called for action in response to the reopening of the Hurva synagogue.
The Hurva synagogue, considered by some people to be one of Judaism's most sacred sites, reopened for the first time in 62 years on Monday in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.
The walled Old City is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which makes the reopening of the synagogue controversial.
Moreover, al-Aqsa, Islam's third holiest site, and the Hurva are about just 700 meters apart.
'Extremely tense'
Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Essawiyya, said Palestinian protesters have been hurling stones at the Israeli border guards, who have responded using stun grenades.
Adnan al-Husseini, the governor of East Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera from al-Aqsa mosque that only a few people had been able to attend prayers because of restrictions placed on movement by Israeli authorities.
"Also many police are at the entrance of the Old City and the mosque and on the streets of the Old City. So movement is very difficult and very tense.
"People are trying to come to the mosque, the shops, their houses. And unfortunately the Israeli police are stopping them."
Israeli officials have limited access to al-Aqsa for the fifth consecutive day for security reasons.
Palestinian men under the age of 50 have not been allowed to enter the mosque.
Hamas warning
The previous day, Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' political chief who is exiled in Syria, strongly condemned the ceremony.
"We warn against this action by the Zionist enemy to rebuild and dedicate the Hurva synagogue. It signifies the destruction of the al-Aqsa mosque and the building of the temple," he said at a meeting of Palestinian groups' leaders in Damascus on Monday.
He urged Palestinians in Jerusalem to "take serious measures to protect al-Aqsa mosque from destruction and Judaisation".
Meshaal also said that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank should "launch a campaign to protect Jerusalem and Islamic and Christian holy sites there".
The Hurva synagogue, first built in 1694, was destroyed in 1721 and then demolished during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
The nearby al-Aqsa site is revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), comprising al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
An Israeli government decision to include two West Bank religious sites in a Jewish national heritage plan has already angered Palestinians and raised tensions in recent weeks.
The announcement last week of Israeli plans for new settler homes near East Jerusalem has also contributed to the unrest.
PHOTO CAPTION
Undercover Israeli police officers detain a Palestinian demonstrator during clashes in east Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 16, 2010.
Al-Jazeera
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