Israeli troops shoot and kill Palestinian woman armed with knife in West Bank

Soldiers 'responded with live fire' after she advanced towards a soldier

Visitors at a hospital after a Palestinian woman was killed at an Israeli checkpoint in Hebron on Wednesday. Reuters

Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian woman who was carrying a knife in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Israeli army said “an assailant armed with a knife advanced towards an IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldier who was conducting routine security activity”.

“The soldiers responded with live fire.”

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the woman, identified as Ghafran Warasna, died after she was shot in the chest near the Al Aroub refugee camp, AP reported.

A hospital in the nearby Palestinian city of Hebron confirmed the woman's death, according to Reuters. The Palestinian Prisoners Club confirmed that a 31-year-old woman killed near Al Aroub village was briefly jailed by Israel earlier this year.

Israeli-Palestinian violence has intensified in recent weeks with near-daily arrest raids by the Israeli military in Palestinian-administered areas of the West Bank after a string of deadly attacks by Palestinians in which at least 19 Israelis died.

Tensions have soared since the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who worked for Al Jazeera, and an Israeli ultranationalist march through a Palestinian thoroughfare in East Jerusalem.

In recent weeks at least 35 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. Many of them were carrying out attacks or were involved in confrontations with Israeli forces in the West Bank.

But journalist Abu Akleh, an unarmed woman and two apparent bystanders were also among those killed. Rights groups say Israel often uses excessive force