A Palestinian attempted to stab Israeli police near a flashpoint holy site in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Thursday and was shot and wounded, Israeli authorities said.

The incident occurred near the site known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs in the tense city, where several hundred Israeli settlers live under heavy guard among some 200,000 Palestinians.

"Officers responded when the suspect approached them armed with a knife," Israeli police said in a statement.

"The terrorist was shot and the area closed off."

The Palestinian is from the Hebron area, police said.

An Israeli hospital treating him described the Palestinian as a 25-year-old man in light to moderate condition.

A wave of unrest which erupted in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 261 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP count.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.

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

The violence has greatly subsided in recent months.

source: AFP