Israel has approved 560 new settler homes for the occupied West Bank in the illegal settlement of Maale Adumim, a spokesman for the settlement said Monday, in a move likely to further raise tensions with Palestine.

The Maale Adumim mayor was on Sunday night officially informed of the decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman to allow the planning of the homes in the settlement east of Jerusalem, the spokesman told AFP.

According to media reports, Netanyahu also gave approval for the planning of 240 new homes in east Jerusalem settlement neighbourhoods, as well as for 600 units for Palestinians in the city's Beit Safafa district.

The offices of Netanyahu and Lieberman refused to comment on the reports of the approvals for homes in east Jerusalem or Maale Adumim.

Israeli forces Friday shot dead a Palestinian woman who allegedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack at a flashpoint occupied West Bank shrine, Israeli police said, the third attack to result in a Palestinian being killed in less than two days.

Israel on Friday announced a lockdown in Hebron and a reduction in monthly tax payments to the Palestinian Authority after the attacks.

Since the start of the wave of violence last October, Israeli occupation forces have killed at least 214 Palestinians.

Meanwhile, daily stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks by frustrated and unarmed Palestinians have killed 33 Israelis.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.