Israel on Tuesday dismantled metal detectors it installed last week at a contested shrine in Jerusalem, as a senior cleric called for Muslims to stay away from the area.

Ikrema Sabri, the head of Jerusalem's Supreme Islamic Committee, made the call pending a review of the new Israeli security arrangements at the holy site in the Old City known as the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims and the Temple Mount to Jews.

The erection of the metal detectors incensed the Muslim world, amid allegations that Israel was trying to expand control over the site under the guise of security. Thousands of Palestinians protested the move.

Early Tuesday, Israel’s security Cabinet decided to replace the metal detectors with “advanced technologies,” reportedly cameras that can detect hidden objects. The Cabinet said police would increase deployment until the new measures are in place.

The statement said the changes would be implemented over a period of “up to six months.”

The site is administered by Jordan, where an Israeli guard fatally shot two Jordanians after one of them attacked him with a screwdriver at the Israeli Embassy in the kingdom on Sunday. A 24-hour diplomatic standoff ensued between the two nations, who signed a peace treaty in 1994.

The security guard and other Israeli embassy staff returned to Israel from Jordan Monday. It came after Jordan initially said the guard could not leave without an investigation, while Israel said he had diplomatic immunity.

The standoff came after Palestinian worshippers and Israeli police clashed outside the Old City on Friday after Israel erected the metal detectors at the gates to the shrine after Arab-Israeli gunmen killed two Israeli police guards there on July 14.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah II spoke by phone late Monday to discuss the rising tensions.

The Jordanian king stressed the need to “remove the measures taken by the Israeli side since the recent crisis broke out” and to agree on steps that would prevent another escalation in the future, Jordan’s state news agency Petra reported.

READ MORE:

Israel to remove metal detectors from holy site

Israel, Palestinians dig in over metal detectors at Jerusalem shrine

Clashes erupt in Jerusalem over access to contested shrine

A Palestinian man was shot dead by an Israeli settler in Ras al-Amud, a neighborhood southeast of the Old City, and two other Palestinians were killed in clashes near the Old City Friday.

Three Israelis died in a Palestinian attack inside a West Bank settlement later in the day.

Israel has denied it has a hidden agenda, portraying the metal detectors as a needed means to prevent attacks.

Muslim and Palestinian leaders who have demanded a return to the security arrangements that were in place before the shooting of the Israeli police officers.

Mahmoud Aloul, a senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, said Tuesday that any changes to the previous arrangements are unacceptable.

“Israel is an occupying power and needs to take its hands from our holy sites,” he told the Voice of Palestine radio station.

Contributing: The Associated Press