A number of people were wounded in the attack, police said. The attackers had fled to the site known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

No details were immediately available on the identity of the attackers.

While a number of attacks have occurred around Jerusalem's Old City, they have often involved knives. The location at the holy site was also likely to lead to tensions.

A wave of unrest that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of at least 277 Palestinians, 42 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP toll.

Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Others were shot dead in protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

The violence has greatly subsided in recent months.