Trump envoy to visit Israel in bid to deescalate Aqsa crisis

A senior aide to US President Donald Trump is due to visit Israel on Monday in a bid to deescalate a mounting crisis in Jerusalem sparked by new Israeli security measures at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site.

Israel unilaterally imposed new security measures, including metal detectors, after a gun and knife attack killed two Israeli policemen on 14 July, a move seen as challenging the delicate status quo of the holy site.

Palestinians in Jerusalem mobilised en-masse against the measures, boycotting entry to the al-Aqsa mosque and praying instead in surrounding city streets.

Since Friday, five Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including one reportedly shot dead by an Israeli settler. A Palestinian assailant also stabbed to death three Israelis settlers north of Ramallah.

"President Trump's special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt departed for Israel last night to support efforts to reduce tensions in the region," a US official said on condition of anonymity.

Further details on his trip were not immediately available.

The Israeli security measures have led to widespread clashes, with more than 900 Palestinians injured in confrontations with Israeli forces over the last ten days.

The UN Security Council is expected to hold a closed-door meeting on Monday, while the Arab League said Israel was "playing with fire".

Amid rising tensions, five Israeli airstrikes hit a Hamas position in southern Gaza overnight.

The bombings came after a rocket was fired from the besieged territory and landed in southern Israel, army officials said.

Since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Jordan and Israel have maintained a delicate status quo at al-Aqsa which sees the Waqf, or Islamic Endowment, administer matters inside the compound while Israel controls external security.

Any unilateral changes at the site are seen as a violation of this agreement, stirring Palestinian fears that Israel is seeking to take over the holy site.

In recent years, a movement in Israel to establish full Jewish sovereignty over the site has gained momentum.  

Once considered fringe and extreme, the movement now enjoys support from moderate rabbis and politicians.

Agencies contributed to this report.