JERUSALEM, May 15 — A Palestinian rammed a car into Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank yesterday before being shot dead, the Israeli army said.

"An assailant drove at a high speed towards (Israeli) soldiers adjacent to a military post near the community of Negohot, southwest of Hebron,” an army statement said.

One soldier was wounded while another opened fire on the driver, it added. A spokeswoman for the military confirmed the driver had been killed.

The Palestinian health ministry confirmed he was a Palestinian, and his family named him as Bahaa Al-Awawdeh.

The wounded soldier was taken to hospital for treatment, the army statement added.

The incident came a day after a 15-year-old Palestinian was killed in clashes with the Israeli army in the Fawwar refugee camp in Hebron.

On Tuesday an Israeli soldier was killed when a rock was thrown at him during a raid near Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Separately yesterday, hundreds of Israeli Arabs protested in the village of Arara against the killing of a man from the community outside a hospital in Tel Aviv.

The man, who Israeli media reported had psychiatric issues, stabbed a guard at the hospital on Wednesday before being shot, Israeli police said.

Tensions have been high as Israel prepares to swear in its first government in nearly 18 months on Sunday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supporting annexation of some parts of the West Bank. — AFP