Palestinian man shot dead at Israeli checkpoint

A Palestinian was shot dead at an Israeli checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday after allegedly walking towards guards with a knife, Israeli police claimed.

"A Palestinian attempted to cross the checkpoint using the vehicle lane and approached security guards brandishing a knife," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

"The terrorist was neutralised," she added, later confirming he had been killed.

The incident happened at the Qalandia checkpoint between the northern West Bank and and Jerusalem, which is used by thousands of Palestinians every day.

The heavily fortified checkpoint is a hated symbol of Israeli occupation for Palestinians causing wanton disruption to daily lives.

It has seen a number of attacks during an upsurge of violence over the past year.

Since October 2015, 240 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed, according to an AFP count.