A car ramming in the occupied West Bank on Sunday lightly wounded three Israeli police officers, and the Palestinian attacker was shot dead, Israeli police said.

The incident occurred in the Beit Ummar area near the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron as border police were conducting an operation, police said. Officers then shot the Palestinian.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the man killed as Khaled Ahmad Ekhlail, 23, from Beit Ummar.

A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks began a year ago, but the violence has signficantly declined in recent months.

Since October last year, the violence has claimed the lives of 236 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP count.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed in air strikes in the Gaza Strip.

Human rights groups have accused Israeli security forces of using excessive force in certain cases.

Internal reviews by the army of two fatal shootings of attackers earlier this month found that the use of deadly force could have been avoided, public radio reported last week.

Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, comatose peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have helped feed the unrest.

Israel says incitement by Palestinian leaders and media is a leading cause.

Most of the attacks have been carried out by lone-wolf assailants, many of them young.

Source: AFP