Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian in Hebron after alleged attack

A Palestinian who allegedly ran at Israeli troops with a knife in the flashpoint city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday was shot dead by soldiers, Israel's army said.

The Palestinian health ministry confirmed the death but provided no details on the incident, saying only the "Israeli occupation opened fire on him".

The incident started near an Israeli military post, the army said.

"Soldiers identified a terrorist armed with a knife running towards them," a spokeswoman said.

A physical confrontation followed, "then he ran toward a nearby building while still armed with a knife", she said.

"The soldiers then fired towards him, thwarted the attack and he was killed."

No soldiers were wounded, the spokeswoman said.

Palestinians have launched sporadic attacks against Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank.

Israeli forces have been accused of responding with excessive force in some instances.

Tensions run particularly high in Hebron, where several hundred Israeli settlers live in the city centre under heavy army protection, among around 200,000 Palestinians.

It is also the location of a key holy site known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Israeli settlements are seen as illegal under international law and a major obstacle to peace, as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Earlier this year, Palestinian and European officials expressed concern and regret over Israel's decision not to renew the mandate of an international monitoring group in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

The Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) was established after a massacre of Palestinians in 1994 to monitor breaches of international humanitarian law.