Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered under heavy Israeli restrictions at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, including some who were allowed to enter from the occupied West Bank.

Officials in Saudi Arabia have declared the start of the fasting month of Ramadan after sighting the crescent moon Sunday night.

Israeli warplanes and artillery have struck targets in Syria following rare rocket fire from the northeastern neighbor.

Israel has launched rare strikes in southern Lebanon and pressed on with bombing targets in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli police have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, firing stun grenades and beating Palestinian youths who hurled stones and firecrackers in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday seasons.

Violence has resumed for a second straight night in Jerusalem after Palestinian worshippers barricaded themselves inside Al-Aqsa Mosque at the Old City’s sensitive compound and Israeli police used force to remove them.

Israeli police say they shot and killed a man who they alleged tried to snatch an officer’s gun at an entrance to a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.

Dozens of leaders and senior officials from Arab and Islamic countries have condemned recent Israeli measures in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged between Israel and the Palestinians.

Jordan has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Amman to protest a move by Israeli police to block the Jordanian envoy from entering a volatile holy site in Jerusalem.

Israel’s foreign minister has accused the Hamas militant group of orchestrating recent unrest at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site.

Palestinian medical officials say 17 people have been wounded in clashes with Israeli police in Jerusalem.

A ruling by a local Israeli court in favor of a Jewish man who prayed quietly at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site has angered Muslim authorities, who say it violates the fragile arrangement governing the compound.

Jewish prayers at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, were once unthinkable.

Israeli police have escorted more than 250 Jewish visitors to a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem where police actions in recent weeks had ignited protests and violence that helped trigger war in Gaza.

Palestinian worshippers have clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a major holy site sacred to Muslims and Jews.