The opening of the compund to tourists and Jews was seen by many as a herald to a new chapter of violence in a region already grappling with tension.

Mufti of occupied Jerusalem and Palestine, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, told IOL the visits were made without prior approval of the Waqf, the Muslim authority in charge of the holy site.

"The Israeli decisoin to allow Jews and foreign tourists into Al-Aqsa Mosque came in beach of the Waqfs authorities, " he added.

Sheikh Sabri also warned that the Israeli move "will have grave political repercussions."

He asserted that the quasi-political decision was a clear-cut evidence that Israel was fanning the sitiation in the occupied territories.

Waqf officials had earlier called on all Palestinians and Muslims to "protect the site from attempts of Jewish extremists to force their way into the compound".

For his part, Hatem Abdel-Qader, chairman of Al-Quds committee in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), deemed the Israeli move "an attempt to exploit the current regional developments to impose a new status quo."

Speaking to IOL, he stressed that "Palestinians will never allow any transgression on the sanctity of Al-Aqsa mosque or other Islamic sacred sites.

"Any such transgression would open Pandora’s Box and cost Israel dearly, and one can tell by many earlier examples," the Palestinian lawmaker said.

Israeli police have banned issuing permits to Jews to have access to the mosque ever since.

Abdel-Qader exhorted the Islamic world to take an immediate action against the new Israeli transgressions, asserting that "Al-Aqsa compound is of concern to every Arab and Muslim across the globe".

Chiding the Palestinian government for freezing contacts with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad resistance groups, he said it should have instead ruptured ties with Israel over the new provocation.

"Truce (declared by Palestinian factions on May 29) will collapse with the enforcement of the new Israeli decision on allowing Jews into Al-Aqsa compound," averred the Palestinian legislator.

In cairo, Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the most revered institution in the Sunni world, said Muslims must not stand hand-folded with respect to any aggression on Al-Aqsa mosque.

Meeting with a Palestinian delegation, the top scholar said the decision on allowing Jewish into the holy site is nothing short than a disrespect of its sanctity.

The Israeli decision even drew fire from former Shas chairman Aryeh Deri who said Hanegbi's decision would cause unnecessary tensions and bloodshed, reported Haaretz.

"We are not aloud to get there. A man who doesn't keep the Shabbat, who doesn't follow the religious commandments, suddenly the going to the Temple Mount is the only commandment he wants to follow. He must consult with rabbis first. I don't know any rabbis who say it is allowed to ascend Temple Mount," Deri told Army Radio, in reference to Al-Aqsa compound.

The visits came a day after a Palestinian reportedly killed 20 people and wounded more than 120 after blowing himself up aboard a city bus in occupied Jerusalem.

The attack was claimed by Hamas which said Israel has no-one to blame but itself given its continued aggressions and provocations to Palestinians.

Some of the passengers on the bus were returning from a visit to Al-Boraq Wall, which Jews refer to as the Wailing Wall, the longest wall bordering the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem.

In late July, Israeli police suspended visits to the site by non-Muslims which had resumed several weeks earlier for the first time since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Intifada.