JERUSALEM, Dec 22 — Israeli police shot dead a man who had fired a gun towards officers in Jerusalem's Old City yesterday, police said.

Palestinian and Israeli media identified the man as a Palestinian from near the city of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials.

The man fired towards a group of officers at a security post in the walled Old City, a police spokeswoman said in a statement. Police chased the man on foot "while firing at him and (he) was neutralised,” it said.

The incident occurred near one of the entrances to the Old City's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, an area revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount.

The Old City and other parts of East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and Palestinians hope will be part of a future state, have seen sporadic Palestinian street attacks on Israelis since US-sponsored peace talks broke down in 2014. — Reuters