- NEW: Clashes break out in Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem
- Security is stepped up in Jerusalem amid rising tension over killings, status of holy site
- An Israeli injured two days ago in an attack by a van driver has died, hospital officials say
- Israeli military: A driver who says he struck soldiers in another attack turned himself in
Jerusalem (CNN) -- An Israeli injured in an attack by a van driver in Jerusalem this week has died, hospital officials said, as security was stepped up in the city amid concern that rising tensions could flare as Muslims gather for Friday prayers.
Israeli police set up barricades Friday morning at the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City, against a backdrop of days of unrest over the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif.
But some restrictions were eased, with Israeli forces allowing men over age 35 and all women to enter the site to worship.
Israeli police on Wednesday clashed with Palestinian youths at the holy site, leaving more than 15 people injured, according to paramedics with the Red Crescent.
It was just the latest round of unrest there since activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick was shot and gravely wounded last week after championing more Jewish rights at the site, where Jews can now gather but not pray. Israeli police shot and killed a suspect in Glick's shooting.
The Israeli whose death was confirmed Friday was the second person to die after a Palestinian man drove a van into pedestrians at a rail station in eastern Jerusalem on Wednesday. An Israeli border police officer also died and 12 other people were injured.
A representative for Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center did not give details of the second victim. But the Times of Israel said he was a 17-year-old student who had suffered serious head injuries.
Police shot and killed the driver involved, identified by Israeli authorities as a member of the Islamist Hamas movement, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
News of the driver's killing ignited fierce clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian youths at the entrance of the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp in East Jerusalem where the suspect lived, according to witnesses.
Clashes broke out again in the neighborhood Friday, with smoke rising as Palestinians threw rocks and set tires alight, while Israeli security forces responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.
No motive for the van driver's attack was immediately released, but Hamas supported the hitting of the Jerusalem pedestrians in a text message to the news media: "Hamas blesses the action. What is happening in Jerusalem is pushing us to prepare for war."
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld called the incident "a terrorist attack."
Soldiers injured in attack by vehicle
A hit-and-run attack on the same day in the West Bank injured three Israeli soldiers, who were taken to the Hadassah hospital. All three are in moderate condition, said Dr. Asher Salmon, the hospital's deputy head.
A Palestinian turned himself in to Israeli authorities Thursday to say he was responsible for that incident, the Israeli military said.
Though the motives weren't immediately clear, the incidents were the latest in a series of vehicles striking pedestrians in Israel and the West Bank as the long-taut tensions between Israelis and Palestinians worsened in recent months, agitated in part by killings and a seven-week Israeli-Gaza conflict earlier this year.
Wednesday's developments came on the heels of two hit-and-run incidents in Jerusalem and the West Bank last month.
On October 22, a Palestinian man rammed his car into commuters waiting at a light rail stop in Jerusalem, killing a baby and wounding several other people, Israeli police said.
Palestinian state news reported that a 5-year-old girl died on October 19 after an Israeli settler deliberately ran over her as she returned home from kindergarten near a village to the north of Ramallah in the West Bank.
Recent tension at the holy site
Some of the recent tension centers on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif and Glick, who has argued that Jews must have a place of worship there. Such a Jewish prayer right is a sensitive issue for Muslims, who suspect a plan to expel them from the site.
Glick's October 29 shooting helped to ratchet up tensions in Jerusalem and prompted Israeli authorities to close the holy site for one day -- a move that a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called a "declaration of war."
A spokesman for the military wing of Hamas said Wednesday that the site's al-Aqsa Mosque "is the detonator needed to ignite a volcano in the face of the cowardly and treacherous occupier."
"We salute the heroes of the mujahideen of Hamas," Abu Abiada said in a message posted on the military wing's website.
Since Muslims began construction at the site in the seventh century, Haram al-Sharif, now controlled by an Islamic trust, has been an almost constant source of tension between Muslims and Jews. Jordan controlled the site for a time until 1967, when Israel seized eastern Jerusalem.
Sacred events
With its golden dome overlooking Jerusalem, the site is said to have hosted sacred events in the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions.
Jewish tradition holds that the Temple Mount contains Mount Moriah, where Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch, is said to have nearly sacrificed his son -- under God's orders -- before an angel intervened. Later, Israeli King Solomon constructed the first Jewish temple on the mount, including the Holy of Holies, a room that kept the Ark of the Covenant.
At the foot of the Temple Mount, the 62-foot-tall Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, stands. Once supporting the courtyard of the ancient temple, Jews gather there now to hold religious services, to pray or to slip notes into its cracks.
For Muslims, the Noble Sanctuary contains one of the most sacred sites in Islam: the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Muslims believe that the Prophet Mohammed was carried on a flying steed from Mecca to the site during his miraculous Night Journey, said Muqtedar Khan, an expert on Islam and politics at the University of Delaware.
Gaza bombings
Meanwhile, in Gaza, several houses belonging to leaders of the Palestinian Fatah faction in Gaza have been the targets of bombings and were damaged, the Palestinian Authority said Friday.
The explosions took place as Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah was due to visit Gaza, but the Palestinian government said that the trip had been postponed until further notice.
CNN's Erin McLaughlin and Michael Schwartz reported from Jerusalem, while Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. CNN's Jason Hanna, Tal Amir, Daniel Burke, Tim Lister, Kareem Khadder, Talal Abu Rahma and Ralph Ellis contributed to this report.
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