Fifteen Jews were arrested at the Temple Mount for bowing down and praying, as a record number visited the holy site to mark Tisha B’Av.

The annual fast day saw 1,440 Jewish worshippers attend the site on Sunday, according to the Year’eh organisation, which promotes ascent to the Temple Mount in accordance with Jewish law.

Last year 1,293 Jews visited, with 400 attending in 2016 and 300 in 2015, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Considered the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, Tisha B’Av marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.

Israeli police said: “Fifteen Jews were removed from the Temple Mount for not observing the prohibitions of the government on demonstrative Jewish activity at the mount.”

Ten people were removed for “prostrating themselves at the site”, three for singing the liturgical lamentations.

The remaining two were detained for shouting out a prayer and for disobeying police instructions, respectively.

The Temple Mount is venerated as a holy site in Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

Although the Israeli High Court has upheld Jews’ right to pray there, the police force prohibits it for fear of inter-communal tension.