Israel lifts Muslim age limits for Jerusalem site

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A Jerusalem holy site at the heart of recent tensions between Israelis and Palestinians was quiet on Friday, police said after age restrictions for Muslim men who wanted to pray there were lifted for the first time in weeks.

The development came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Jordan's King Abdullah II in an attempt to restore calm in the holy city.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the site was open to Muslims of all ages for weekly prayers. About 40,000 attended prayers and there were no immediate reports of violence, she said.

In recent weeks, police had barred Muslim men younger than 35 to try and quell violent protests by Palestinians, who have clashed with police in response to visits by Jewish worshippers. The visits have stoked fears among the Palestinians that Israel intends to alter decades-old arrangements surrounding access to the site, something Israel adamantly denies.

Samri said police are investigating claims that an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was wounded during a protest on Thursday in east Jerusalem.

Kerry said after Thursday's meeting that Israel and Jordan have committed to a series of "specific and practical" steps to reduce spiraling tensions in Jerusalem and that the Palestinians have pledged to curb incitement and violence, without offering further details.

Long-simmering animosity has boiled over in violent Palestinian protests and attacks that have killed six people and injured more than a dozen others.

Much of the violence stems from tensions surrounding the Jerusalem holy site referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount because of the Jewish Temples that stood there in biblical times. Muslims refer to it as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is their third holiest site, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Muslim authorities reporting to Jordan have continued to administer the site since east Jerusalem's capture by Israel in 1967. Jews are allowed to visit, but may not pray there. Muslim worshippers view Jewish prayer at the site as a provocation, and Israeli authorities place tough restrictions on it.

Netanyahu has insisted that Israel has no plans to change the arrangements at the holy site.