Police on Wednesday closed access to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem for non-Muslims after a violation of the holy site’s rules by Jewish visitors.

In a statement, a police spokeswoman said the closure was ordered by Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevi and that the group of Jewish visitors who attempted to pray at the site was removed as a result of the incident.

“The Israel Police operates within a series of balances to uphold the law and the rules of the site and won’t allow anyone to violate the law in any way,” the statement said.

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According to the Haaretz daily, the Jewish visitors entered the Temple Mount with prayer books and attempted to pray, despite rules at the site forbidding prayer by non-Muslims.

Police said they would reevaluate opening the Temple Mount to non-Muslims Wednesday afternoon in accordance with “ongoing situational assessments.”

The site has reemerged as a flashpoint in recent days, with Muslim protesters holding at-times violent demonstrations outside of the Old City in protest of Israel’s placement of metal detectors at the gates to the Temple Mount, following a terror attack last week in which a trio of Arab Israelis shot dead two police officers guarding one of the entrances to the site.

The metal detectors were part of increased security measures after police said the attackers had stashed their weapons on the Temple Mount.

Following the terror attack, in which the gunmen killed two Israeli Druze police officers, Israel made the rare move of closing the compound while it searched for more weaponry there, reopening it to Muslims on Sunday and to non-Muslims on Monday.

Since it was reopened to non-Muslims, a number of incidents have been recorded of Jews praying at the site, including on Tuesday when police said they removed and later detained two visitors to the Mount.

In light of the ongoing tensions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on a state visit to Hungary, on Wednesday morning discussed the volatile situation on the Temple Mount in a telephone briefing with his security chiefs, but no operative decisions were taken.

Another security consultation was planned for the later in the day, even though Netanyahu has a packed schedule: He is scheduled to meet with the heads of government of Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic, attend a Hungary-Israel economic forum and visit the Hungarian Jewish community at the Dohany Street Synagogue.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Police Chief Roni Alsheich, Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman and other senior official participated in Wednesday morning’s phone conference.

To protest the new security measures, officials from the Muslim Waqf, which administers the site, have staged protests in the Old City, gathering large groups of men to pray just outside the Temple Mount and encouraging others to avoid entering the compound.

Those protests have devolved into clashes between worshipers and police for three evenings in a row, including on Tuesday night, when according to police, a group of Muslim worshipers “started throwing rocks and bottles at the officers” who were stationed in the Old City.

In response, the officers used riot dispersal equipment — notably rubber bullets and stun grenades — to break up the riot, police said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said 34 people were injured, including 14 people needing hospitalization. One person had a serious chest injury, a spokesperson said.

Police said two officers were lightly injured in the fighting and calm was restored to the area after the clashes.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, police had said that while many Muslim worshipers had decided to protest the metal detectors, others had accepted them and visited the Temple Mount. The assertion came as members of the Waqf persisted in their calls for Muslims not to enter through the metal detectors, which were installed Sunday.

The Palestinian Fatah movement called for a “Day of Rage” on Wednesday to protest the new security measures.

The organization, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called for marches in the West Bank toward Israeli checkpoints in protest of the new measures and announced that Friday prayers, when many worshipers go to the Temple Mount, would be conducted in public squares instead.

Palestinian officials denounced a “fierce and organized attack” by Israel against East Jerusalemites. They called for maintaining the delicate status quo at the Temple Mount, according to which the Waqf manages the site while Israel controls access. Muslims accuse Israel of breaking the status quo by installing the metal detectors.

Misinformation regarding Israeli plans to make changes to the status quo surfaces frequently, roiling the Palestinian street and angering the Arab world.

Israel has said repeatedly it has no plans to change the status quo at the Mount. It has always been responsible for security there, and Friday’s attack necessitated upgraded security, officials said. All visitors to the Western Wall plaza, below the Mount, have long had to pass through metal detectors, as have non-Muslim visitors to the Mount, who gain access via the Mughrabi Gate.

Raphael Ahren, Dov Lieber and Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.