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Altercations between Palestinian protestors and the Israeli police continued over the weekend amid growing tensions over access to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Five Palestinians were reportedly killed over the weekend, though the circumstances are still being investigated. One of the fatalities appears to have been from a Molotov cocktail exploding prematurely.

Palestinian sources also claim that over 20 people were injured on Sunday night during protests outside the Lion’s Gate in the Old City.

Tensions in the West Bank increased over the weekend following the decision by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to “freeze” ties with Israel “on all levels” until the new security measures on the Temple Mount were changed.

On Sunday Abbas said: “They [Israel] don’t have a right to place the [metal detectors] at the gates to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, because sovereignty over the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is our right … so we took a decisive and firm stance, especially with regard to security coordination and all kinds of coordination between us and them.”

Abbas says that coordination can only return if Israel reverses security measures at the Temple Mount compound put in place after the July 14 deadly shooting attack by three Arab Israelis, in which two Israeli police officers were killed.

Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, head of COGAT (Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories), told Al-Jazeera that Israel is “searching for other options and solutions that will bring safety and ensure another terror attack won’t be carried out”.

Mordechai also stressed that Israel had no interest in changing the status quo on the Temple Mount and only introduced extra security measures to prevent any more attacks.

On Saturday night Israel installed new surveillance measures near Lion’s Gate, which is the main access point for Muslim worshipers to the Temple Mount compound.

Israeli media reports have claimed that the cameras will allow suspects carrying weapons to be identified without the use of metal detectors.

In related news, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel in the past 24 hours. The second rocket exploded in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. No one was injured and no damage was caused.

The IDF responded with tank fire on a Hamas position in the southern Gaza Strip.