Suspected Palestinian Thief Shot Dead by Israel Police

An Israeli officer shot dead a masked Palestinian on Sunday as he accelerated his car toward an officer at a checkpoint set up to apprehend thieves in the occupied West Bank, police said.

Two accomplices fled the car, which contained stolen goods and equipment used to carry out burglaries, a statement said.

Police had received information regarding a "suspicious car" and set up a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley.

While examining a vehicle there, another car overtook it and accelerated toward an officer who beckoned it to stop.

"When the car did not heed the officer's orders to stop, the officer shot at the car," police said in a statement. 

"As a result of the gunfire, the car stopped and its Palestinian motorist, a resident of one of the villages nearby, was hit and pronounced dead."

The Palestinian health ministry identified the man as Salamah al-Kaabneh, 22, noting the event took place near Jericho.

There have been sporadic Palestinian attacks, including car-rammings, against Israeli civilians and security forces in the West Bank.

But in Sunday's statement the police refrained from calling the Palestinian as a "terrorist", identifying him instead only as a motorist.