Low-level clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces broke out near Rachel’s Tomb, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, amid tension in Jerusalem surrounding Friday prayers at the Temple Mount. Police had barred men under the age of 50 from entering the Temple Mount for Friday prayers.

Four Palestinians were injured as clashes erupted in Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz Arab neighbourhood and around the Old City on Friday.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Thursday launched an unprecedented, bitter tirade against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his “absolutely unacceptable” warm reception of an Israeli security guard in Amman who shot dead two Jordanian citizens his week after one of them attacked him with a screwdriver.

Israel’s actions are “playing with fire, and will only ignite a religious war and shift the core of the conflict from politics to religion,” Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit said.

For a king currently sunning himself on a North African beach, it was no mean feat: Saudi Arabia on Thursday said intense international diplomacy by its ruler, Salman, had been central to ending the standoff at the Noble Sanctuary in Jerusalem.

Members of the a movement advocating for greater Jewish access to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem are upset about the removal of metal detectors outside entrances and the return of Muslim oversight to the complex — viewing the move as a betrayal on the part of Israeli leaders.

Netanyahu reportedly suggested that jurisdiction of several Israeli Arab villages in the Wadi Ara region could be transferred to Palestinian control in exchange for Israel annexing Jewish settlements in the Gush Etzion bloc in the West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he supports the death penalty for the terrorist who killed three members of the Salomon family on Friday night.

“Netanyahu is calling to shut down Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem bureau, accusing the station of incitement to violence amid tensions over the Temple Mount. Has he heard what his own ministers have been saying recently?” asks Edo Konrad.

As Middle East summer temperatures soar above 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), Gazans are struggling to stay cool amid a power crisis, with less than four hours of electricity a day and little chance to run fans and air-conditioners.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party on Friday accused Jewish Home’s leader of endangering Israel’s security by populist point scoring, hitting back at comments from the right-wing party saying that the prime minister was all talk but no action.

Governing coalition parties Likud and Kulanu have agreed not to submit any controversial bills during the Knesset’s winter session, in order to enable the government to survive the long winter term and avoid an early election.