Israel lifted age limits for prayers at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound Friday in an apparent bid to ease tensions as nearly 90 people were injured in clashes in Gaza and the West Bank.

While thousands of Muslims prayed without incident at the ultra-sensitive site, young Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in the occupied West Bank and Gaza strip, leaving scores injured by Israeli gunfire, according to emergency services.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed "cautious optimism" following talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday on defusing spiraling Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

"I would characterize that conversation as one that gave me a cautious measure of optimism that there may be some things that could be in the next couple of days put on the table," Kerry said in Berlin.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday backtracked on his claim that a Palestinian leader gave Hitler the idea to exterminate Jews after widespread controversy and a flood of online mockery.

During a speech on Tuesday, the Israeli leader suggested Hitler was not planning to exterminate the Jews until he met Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, a Palestinian nationalist, in 1941.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged an end to spiralling violence as he met Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday in a bid to calm three weeks of deadly unrest.

"We will continue to support all efforts to create the conditions to make meaningful negotiations possible," Ban told journalists after meeting Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Al-Wad Street used to be one of the busiest within the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, but today the narrow alley is almost empty except for Israeli soldiers.

It was along this alleyway that a young Palestinian stabbed and killed two Jews on October 3, the first knife attack in a wave of violence across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Three Israelis were wounded and two Palestinians were killed Tuesday in a stabbing and a car attack in the occupied West Bank, as a Palestinian was killed and five others were wounded by Israeli fire along the Gaza Strip border.

Tuesday's first attack saw an Israeli soldier stabbed during clashes near the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron and the alleged 23-year-old Palestinian assailant shot dead.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israelis against vigilantism Monday following the death of an Eritrean man mistakenly shot and beaten by a mob during an attack in which a soldier was killed.

More than two weeks of unrest have raised warnings of the risk of a full-scale Palestinian uprising, while some Israeli politicians have urged residents to arm themselves to fend off the threat of stabbings and gun assaults.

U.S. State Secretary John Kerry called Monday for an end to the wave of deadly Israeli-Palestinian violence but said "Israel has every right in the world to protect itself".

"We want to see calm restored and we want to see violence stop," Kerry said in Madrid.

Four Palestinians were shot dead and a fifth wounded in attacks on Israelis in east Jerusalem and the West Bank Saturday, as violence that has fueled concerns of an uprising showed no let-up.

The violence that has raged for more than two weeks prompted a "very concerned" U.S. President Barack Obama to call for calm, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to chair a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to express concern at recent violence and ask them to work to restore calm, an official said Friday.

The move comes amid mounting clashes in Israel and the Palestinian territories that have raised fears of a full-scale uprising, with an overnight arson attack on a Jewish holy site in the West Bank the latest incident to heighten tensions.