Palestinian Health Minister Riad al-Zaanun said 10 Palestinians had died in the West Bank, and five in the Gaza Strip.

In Gaza Palestinian policemen fired back at the Israelis with their own live bullets. A 20-minute gunfight followed.

The clashes began on Thursday after a visit by the right-wing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon to a contested holy site in Jerusalem, known as the Temple Mount to Israelis, and Haram al-Sharif to Muslims.

'Battle for Jerusalem'

On Friday Israeli riot police stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque inside the walled compound, opening fire on stone-throwing worshippers - a move described as the start of a "battle for Jerusalem" by a leader of the Palestinian Fatah movement.

In many places around the West Bank, tyres and cars were burning in the road, she said. There were clashes in Hebron, and in dozens of other towns.

A general strike called for by the Palestinian leadership was widely observed. Shops were closed and children were sent home from school.

Restraint call

More than 150 Palestinians were injured on Friday as clashes spread to the West Bank from Jerusalem.

The holy site where the trouble started lies on territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war, and is at the centre of the fierce dispute over the sovereignty of Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak over the phone on Saturday that the Israeli army was exercising "maximum restraint," while being "determined to preserve public order and protect its citizens."

Mr Barak also told the Egyptian leader that the Palestinian Authority needed to show restraint and control the disturbances, a spokesman said.

Shaul Mofaz, Israel's army chief, had stronger words.

"The events are a direct result of the behaviour of the Palestinian police which acted in a way that led to bloodshed," Mr Mofaz said.

Provocative actions

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has been visiting Cairo to brief Mr Mubarak on the clashes.

Mr Mubarak's office has condemned the deaths of the protesters, blaming them on what it called Israel's provocative actions.

He is reported to have shown members of the league and the European Union envoy to the region, Miguel Moratinos photographs of Israeli soldiers aiming guns fitted with sights at Palestinians.

The Saudi Arabian Government has also condemned what it described as Israel's brutal aggression, and urged the international community to ensure better protection for the holy sites.

About 5,000 Egyptian university students on Saturday demonstrated against what they described as the Israeli "massacre" of Palestinians in Jerusalem.

In Lebanon thousands of Palestinian refugees demonstrated against the killings. They marched through Ain el-Hilweh, the biggest refugee camp in Lebanon, chanting anti-Israeli slogans and burning an effigy of Ariel Sharon.