Israeli-Palestinian tensions flared again in Jerusalem on Wednesday, with police and youths clashing at one of the holiest sites in Judaism and Islam, and a Palestinian motorist slamming into pedestrians, killing one.

The events occurred amid unrest spurred in part by a days long war of words -- and sometimes rocks and bullets -- over the compound called the Temple Mount by Jews and Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, by Muslims.

At the compound -- the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam -- groups of Palestinian youths threw stones and set off fireworks at Israeli police officers when the site was opened to visitors, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. Clashes left more than 15 people injured, police said.

It was just the latest round of unrest since right-wing activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick was shot and gravely wounded after championing more Jewish rights at the site, where Jews can currently gather, but not pray.

The October 29 shooting helped to ratchet up tensions in Jerusalem and prompted Israeli authorities to close the holy site for one day -- a move that a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called a "declaration of war."

Before Wednesday's violence, the youths had gathered at the site's al-Aqsa Mosque overnight, amassing rocks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails with which to attack police, Samri said.

Police pushed the Palestinians back into the mosque during Wednesday's clashes, Samri said, and, in an attempt to control the violence, police temporarily closed access to the compound.

Witnesses among the Muslim worshipers gave a different version of events, saying police tossed stun grenades into the mosque to clear the way for Jewish protesters intending to support Glick.

"Inside the mosque they formed obstacles to hide behind," Samri said. "There were violent clashes with the police."

Police later allowed Jews and tourists back to the site, but unrest flared again near another gate, when police threw stun grenades and fired rubber bullets at Muslim worshipers who were chanting and praying because they weren't allowed back into the compound.

Paramedics from the Red Crescent said 15 people were injured, one of them with a serious injury to the eye. Samri said police officers were injured.

(CNN)