Two Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli troops in occupied east Jerusalem

Two Palestinians were shot dead in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, following one of the bloodiest days in the occupied West Bank in recent months.

Israeli police shot dead two Palestinians - believed to be teenagers - in East Jerusalem, while a policewoman was stabbed to death in a seperate incident in the city.

A number of passersby were also reported to be injured close to the Damascus Gate entrance to the city.

Israeli police say two assailants opened fire on a crowd of officers who returned fire, before the 23-year-old staff sergeant was stabbed and later died from her wounds in hospital.

The killings took place as Muslims marked the end of the third Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, nearby the al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site.

"Female border policewoman injured critically in attack at Damascus gate," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld wrote in a statement. Police alleged that the Palestinians shot dead were the assailants and from the West Bank area and.

Maan news agency said two Palestinian teenagers were shot deal and one 30-year-old man was also injured and is being treated for his wounds.

The two assailants were said to have attacked an Israeli checkpoint with a gun and knife before being shot.

Israel said it had eased restrictions on the entrance of Palestinians from the West Bank for Ramadan.

The area around Damascus Gate was sealed off in the hours after the attack - with a few youths throwing fireworks at security forces - while heavily armed polce were patrolling throughout the Old City, an AFP reporter said.

The Islamist movement Hamas condemned the shooting of the perpetrators as a "crime by the occupation."

A spokesman for the movement, Hazem Qassem, said the attack was "proof that the Palestinian people are leading a revolution against the enemy".

He also said the attack proved the Palestinian Authority's policy of security coordination with Israel was wrong, calling it "a national crime".

More than 272 Palestinians, 42 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October 2015, according to an AFP tally.

The Old City is in the occupied east Jerusalem and has been one of the focal points of the wave of violence.

Agencies contributed to this story.