Israel moves to reassure Jordan over al-Aqsa

Israeli government officials have been in contact with their Jordanian counterparts over the past two days to calm tensions at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound, reported Israeli daily Haaretz.

Israel has been sending messages directly to Jordan and via the US government, according to the report, while senior officials in Jordan said that Israel did not intend to make any change to the status quo at the holy site, accusing certain parties in the Palestinian Authority of lying about Netanyahu's intention to storm the mosque on Wednesday.

Haaretz added that Israeli senior officials sent messages directly to their Jordanian counterparts, through the Israeli foreign ministry and Yitzhak Molcho, the Prime Minister's adviser on Jordan, who maintains close ties with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

Israel also called the Jordanian government to put further pressure on the Islamic Waqf in al-Aqsa to "curb violence".

According to Haaretz, the US played its role as an unofficial mediator when the Jordan's King reached an understanding with Netanyahu in November last year, during a trilateral meeting in Amman, attended by US State Secretary John Kerry.

Jordan had complained to the US about Israel's breach of the understanding, as Netanyahu's government had agreed to refrain from storming al-Aqsa, until Israeli agriculture minister Uri Ariel broke the agreement earlier this week.

On Sunday, Hundreds of Israeli police stormed the al-Aqsa mosque compound, clashing with Palestinian protesters, who were throwing stones as they sought to protect the holy site. The Israeli police then responded with stun grenades and tear gas.