Israeli police storm Al Aqsa

Occupied Jerusalem: Israeli riot police armed with stun grenades stormed Occupied Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque compound and clashed with Palestinian stone throwers near Islam's third holiest site on Friday.

Fifteen Israeli policemen and at least 20 Palestinians were wounded in protests over nearby Israeli repair work, which Arab leaders charge endangers the mosque, as smoke billowed and explosions boomed after prayers.

More than 20 Palestinians were treated for injuries, largely from rubber bullets, medical sources said.

Some 200 police stormed the compound where they clashed with hundreds of protesters who threw stones before around 150 rioters barricaded themselves inside Al Aqsa mosque.

"Approximately 200 police entered inside the Temple Mount. There were several hundred protesters, 150 [of them] went inside the mosque," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, stressing that the trouble had ended.

The United States urged Israel to take others' "sensitivities" into account in carrying out the repair work.

"When there are any activities around sensitive sites, we would certainly hope that those sensitivities are taken into account and that these kinds of things move forward in a way that wouldn't inflame tensions or cause problems," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

Occupied Jerusalem mufti Shaikh Mohammad Hussain, who delivered the main Friday sermon, swiftly condemned what he called Israeli aggression.

"We condemn this blatant Israeli aggression against Al Aqsa mosque and on the worshippers," he said.

Speaking in Saudi Arabia, a day after striking a Palestinian unity government deal, president Mahmoud Abbas said the Israeli works amounted to "hostile measures," Protests also erupted in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria over the Israeli works.