A Palestinian was shot dead at a West Bank checkpoint on Tuesday after walking towards guards with a knife in his hand, Israeli police said.

"A Palestinian attempted to cross the checkpoint using the vehicle lane and approached security guards brandishing a knife," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

"The terrorist was neutralised," she added, later confirming he had been killed.

There were no Israeli casualties.

Palestinian security sources identified the dead man as Jihad Khalil, 48, from near Nablus in the northern West Bank.

The incident happened at the Qalandia checkpoint between the northern West Bank and Jerusalem, which is used by thousands of Palestinians every day.

The heavily fortified checkpoint is a hated symbol of Israeli occupation for Palestinians and has seen a number of attacks during an upsurge of violence over the past year.

Since October 2015, 240 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed, according to an AFP count.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out attacks, according to Israeli authorities. 

Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some died in Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

The violence has calmed significantly in recent months.

Source: AFP