More than 250,000 attend fourth Friday prayer of Ramadan at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque

More than 250,000 worshippers gathered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem for the fourth Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, amid strict Israeli measures.

Palestinians had to line up at military checkpoints in the early hours of the morning to cross from the Israeli-occupied West Bank into Jerusalem.

Israeli police said more than 2,000 police officers were deployed in Jerusalem on Friday as Muslims flocked to Al-Aqsa, Orthodox Christians held Good Friday processions in the Old City's narrow alleyways and Jewish worshippers prayed at the Western Wall.

The Jordanian body that administers the site said around a quarter of a million worshippers attended the service at Al-Aqsa.

"There is no room for compromise on Al-Aqsa or space for negotiations around it and we will not give up one iota of its land," the Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Hussein said at the Friday sermon, after expressing appreciation for the strong turnout of Muslim worshippers throughout the holy month.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported there being 3,000 officers in the Old City, while the army and border police strengthened their deployment along the apartheid wall. At least five Palestinians were arrested for attempting to scale the barrier, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, has seen several raids by Israeli forces and settlers since Ramadan began on 23 March. In a particularly brutal raid on 4 April, hundreds of worshippers were injured or arrested by Israeli police.

The raids triggered rocket attacks from the besieged Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon and Syria that drew Israeli air and artillery strikes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this week that non-Muslims would not be able to visit the site until the end of Ramadan - expected around 20 April, depending on the moon.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem following a 1967 Middle East war in a move not recognised internationally.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this week that non-Muslims would not be able to visit Al-Aqsa until the end of Ramadan - expected around 20 April, depending on the moon.

Reuters contributed to this report