The ministry charged that the man killed in the northern Jenin area was a civilian, who was named as Mahmoud Al-Saadi, 19, by the city's deputy governor Kamal Abu al-Rub.

"A civilian succumbed to critical wounds after he was hit by live occupation (Israeli) bullets in the abdomen, in Jenin," the ministry said in a statement, adding that two others were seriously wounded.

The Israeli occupation said it had operated in Wadi Bruqin, near Jenin, seeking to arrest a wanted "terror operative" whom it named as Ratib al-Bali.

"During the activity, shots were fired and explosive devices were hurled at the soldiers," it claimed.

"The soldiers responded with live fire toward suspects who (allegedly) fired at them."

Israeli forces added that nine other suspects were arrested in raids across the West Bank early Monday.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the Jenin area clash broke out as the Israeli forces "besieged a house".

After the shooting, a large crowd massed around Saadi's body, which was wrapped in white cloth.

Violence has flared this year in the West Bank, where the Israeli occupation has launched near-daily raids since a series of attacks in Israel that killed several civilians.

Abu al-Rub told AFP that 52 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli occupation in Jenin since the beginning of the year.

The United Nations says more than 125 Palestinians have been killed this year across the West Bank.

Israel has occupied the territory since the 1967 Six-Day War.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online