UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has visited Jerusalem to try to stem Israeli-Palestinian violence as Israel issued fresh assurances to address Muslim fears of Jewish encroachment at a mosque at the centre of the conflict.

Israeli officials said Mr Ban, whose trip was announced in Israel only hours before his expected arrival, met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later.

He will see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is to hold talks with Mr Netanyahu in Germany during the prime minister's visit there on Wednesday and Thursday, has said Israeli and Palestinian leaders need to clarify the status of Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound to help stop three weeks of bloodshed.

Mr Kerry also planned to meet Mr Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah later in the week.

The violence has been stoked partly by Palestinians' anger at what they see as increased Jewish visits to the al-Aqsa plaza, Islam's holiest site outside Saudi Arabia and revered in Judaism as the location of two destroyed biblical temples.

"Israel has not and will not change the status quo. That is one huge lie," Mr Netanyahu said in a speech to international Jewish leaders meeting in Jerusalem.

Under long-standing arrangements, Islamic religious authorities administer al-Aqsa. Israel allows Jews to visit but not pray in the compound in Jerusalem's walled Old City that it captured along with other parts of East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war.

In a video message to Israelis and Palestinians released prior to his arrival, Mr Ban said: "Do not allow the extremists on either side to use religion to further fuel the conflict.

"Palestinian and Israeli leaders: Stand firm against terror, violence and incitement. Demonstrate in both words and deeds that the historic status quo of holy sites in Jerusalem will be preserved."

In the latest deadly incident, a Palestinian vehicle ran over and killed an Israeli motorist who eyewitnesses said was using a club to hit Palestinian protesters and cars on a roadside in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli police said the man had stopped his car after stones were thrown at it.

Earlier, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli officer in the West Bank before other troops shot the assailant, the Israeli military said. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the Palestinian was killed.

Eight Israelis have been killed in stabbings, shootings and car rammings by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs in Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank in recent weeks.

An Eritrean, mistaken as an assailant during an Arab gunman's assault in the town of Beersheba, also died after being shot by a security guard and kicked by an angry crowd.

Israeli security forces have killed at least 42 Palestinians, including 20 assailants and demonstrators, one of whom, police said, fired a gun at them.

In a newspaper interview published on Tuesday, Mr Netanyahu, who has publicly cautioned there was no "quick fix" to the worst Palestinian street violence in years, voiced confidence the conflict would not widen.

Hundreds of Israeli troops have deployed along with police in Israeli cities. But a decade after the end of the last Palestinian uprising, the violence has unsettled many Israelis.

The usually busy downtown streets of Jerusalem have been largely empty of shoppers but indoor malls, which have security guards at entrances, are still bustling.