Israeli forces destroyed the home of a Palestinian who stabbed a woman to death in January before being shot dead by a security guard, the army said on Wednesday.

It was the latest such demolition carried out by Israel as a deterrent, but which human rights groups say amounts to collective punishment.

The demolition occurred overnight at the apartment of Hussein Abu Ghosh in the Qalandia refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, with the walls inside destroyed.

Residents told an AFP journalist that Abu Ghosh's family left the apartment about a month ago.

The January 25 attack saw Abu Ghosh, 17, and another Palestinian, Ibrahim Allan, 23, stab two women in the occupied West Bank settlement of Beit Horon, northwest of Jerusalem.

One of the women, Shlomit Krigman, 24, later died from her wounds. Both of the assailants were killed by the security guard.

Krigman was stabbed near her home while the other woman was attacked outside a grocery store.

Israeli authorities also said at the time that they had found and defused three pipe bombs the two had thrown at the grocery store.

Since October, Israel killed about 201 Palestinians in a deadly use of force against their protests in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Also 28 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese were killed.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online