Israel banned Muslim men under the age of 50 from a contested Jerusalem shrine on Friday and deployed about 3,000 police nearby, ahead of expected Muslim protests over the installation of metal detectors at the holy site.

There were fierce clashes in East Jerusalem and fears of a new Palestinian uprising after Israeli police shot dead a 32-year-old Palestinian man suspected of having tried hours earlier to kill a far-right Jewish activist.

Hamas said today that the Islamic militant group would not renew an informal nine-month-old truce, which expires at the end of the year, after Israel killed one of its leading activists in an airstrike in Gaza.

Police stormed a disputed Jerusalem holy site today, throwing stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Palestinian worshippers who threw stones at police and Jewish visitors.

Israeli troops killed five Palestinians early today during a shoot-out in the southern Gaza Strip, doctors in the local hospital said.