Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the closure of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque as a "declaration of war".
The mosque, in the Al-Aqsa complex which contains sites holy to Muslims and Jews, was closed by Israel following the shooting of a Jewish activist.
Speaking hours after the closure, Mr Abbas said: "This dangerous Israeli escalation is a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and its sacred places and on the Arab and Islamic nation.
"We hold the Israeli government responsible for this dangerous escalation in Jerusalem that has reached its peak through the closure of the Al-Aqsa mosque this morning.
"This decision is a dangerous act and a blatant challenge that will lead to more tension and instability and will create a negative and dangerous atmosphere.
"The state of Palestine will take all legal measures to hold Israel accountable and to stop these ongoing attacks."
Minutes after the comments, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a hike in police numbers.
He said: "I have ordered a significant increase in forces as well as in means (available to them) so we can both ensure security in Jerusalem and also maintain the status quo in the holy places."
American-born activist Yehuda Glick was shot by a gunman on a motorbike as he left a conference, in an incident that has seen tensions rise in Jerusalem.
He is a well-known ultranationalist and advocate of greater Jewish prayer access at the Al-Aqsa complex.
His attacker was described as speaking in "heavy Arabic-accented Hebrew", according to Moshe Feiglin of the Likud party.
Mr Glick, 48, is in a serious condition in hospital and his shooting comes after days of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police surrounded the home of a man suspected of the shooting on Thursday. The suspect, identified as Muataz Hijazi, 32, then opened fire before police shot back and killed him.
Residents said hundreds of Israeli police and special units had been involved in trying to capture Hijazi, an Islamic militant recently released from prison.
Afterwards, local youths began throwing stones at police and dragged a rubbish skip into the middle of the road as police fired back with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Sky News Middle East reporter Tom Rayner said: "This is a very explosive situation and there will be great concern about whether or not the security forces here can keep a lid on this."
He said the closure at Al-Aqsa was the first in 14 years, adding: "It sits right at the heart not just of arguments and conflict in Jerusalem but at the very heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict altogether because sovereignty of that area defines what could be a two-state solution.
"Any attempts to block off access to that holy site are inevitably read as attempts to take sovereignty over the wider area of Jerusalem. That is why it is such an explosive issue when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole."
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