A Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday before being shot dead, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

Israeli soldiers inspect the site where a Palestinian man was killed after he reported tried to stab an Israeli driver at a junction south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on April 3, 2019. (Photo: VCG)

The Israeli army said a Palestinian tried to carry out a stabbing attack near a military checkpoint close to Nablus in the northern West Bank, after which "a civilian fired and neutralised the assailant".

The Palestinian health ministry later confirmed he had died, though his identity was not released.

Palestinian official news agency Wafa said the man who fired the shot was a settler, though the army declined to confirm or deny this.

Wafa quoted eyewitnesses as saying the Palestinian man was a truck driver.

A series of Palestinian lone wolf attacks broke out in the West Bank in late 2015.

The situation has since calmed, but sporadic attacks continue.