Israeli troops on patrol in the occupied West Bank on Thursday shot dead a Palestinian who tried to stab them, the Israeli military said, a latest attack during a period of heightened violence.
The military said the force spotted a man near the village of Hawara and attempted to question him but he ran toward them holding a knife and was shot dead.
A statement issued by the army further detailed, saying "the forces responded to the immediate threat, shooting the perpetrator, resulting in his death."
A campaign of stabbings, shootings and car-rammings by Palestinians has killed 19 Israelis and a U.S. citizen since the start of October. Israeli forces have killed at least 114 Palestinians, most of whom the army described as assailants.
Palestinians are frustrated at the failure of long-running peace efforts with Israel and its 48-year occupation of the West Bank. Many sympathize with calls by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for Israel's destruction.
The bloodshed has also been fueled by Muslim opposition to stepped-up Israeli access to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque complex, which many Jews revere as a vestige of their biblical temples.
