"Earlier today, a group of Palestinians was identified hurling rocks at a main road near Tapuah junction, endangering civilians," the IDF reported on its official Twitter account.
The defense forces went on to add that after firing warning shots, "one of the attackers was wounded and treated by the IDF on site."
The wounded attacker — later identified as Emam Jamil, a native of Beita in the Nablus governorate — died from his wounds. The Military Police have launched an investigation into the incident.
Over the weekend, two people were arrested in West Bank on suspicion of throwing a Molotov cocktail at a car on Thursday, injuring an Israeli man and his 11-year-old daughter.
Earlier on Thursday, the Jerusalem planning and building committee approved the construction of hundreds of new homes in the northern and southern neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, despite the lack of international recognition for Israeli occupation of the area.
Support for Palestinian sovereignty has gained traction after a December 17 European Parliament resolution calling for recognition of the Palestinian Authority as a state and Monday's amended UN Security Council resolution. The amended resolution calls for Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank by the end of 2017, the restoration of pre-1967 Palestinian borders and an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement within the next year.
A total of 135 countries recognize the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign state.
On November 15, 1988, the Palestine National Council proclaimed the State of Palestine, laying claims to the West Bank and Gaza Strip — seized by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 — with Jerusalem as its capital.
