RAMALLAH: Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian near the West Bank city of Hebron Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, after what the army alleged was a “stabbing attack”.

Sharif Hassan Rabaa, 22, “succumbed to critical wounds, which he sustained by bullets from the occupation (Israel), near the entrance to Fawwar” refugee camp, the health ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli army said “an assailant approached... soldiers and attempted to stab one of the soldiers” near Fawwar, in the south of the occupied West Bank.

“The soldiers responded with live fire and neutralised the suspect,” the army added in a statement.