Israeli troops fatally shoot Palestinian driver in the West Bank

Israeli troops killed a Palestinian driver in the occupied West Bank, officials on both sides have said, with the army saying the car had hit a soldier's leg before speeding off.

Nassim Naif Salman Abu Fouda, 26, died Monday from "a bullet wound to the head fired by the occupation (Israeli) soldiers in Hebron this morning," the Palestinian health ministry said.

The Israeli army said that soldiers had "identified a suspicious vehicle" and asked the driver to stop the vehicle in order to inspect it.

"A soldier approached the vehicle and the driver rammed into his leg," the army statement said. "The soldiers fired toward the vehicle as it attempted to flee the scene and hits were identified.

"The vehicle continued driving and then crashed," the statement continued, adding that the driver was taken from the car by Palestinian medics and "was later declared dead".

Abu Fouda is the 35th Palestinian killed in the occupied West Bank and occupied east Jerusalem this month -including militants, civilians and several children- according to a tally by the news agency AFP, based on official Palestinian and Israeli sources.

READ MORE: Israeli violence escalates over the weekend

Blinken's visit

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to visit Israel Monday and then the Palestinian territories for meetings with leaders on both sides amid one of the conflict's deadliest phases in years.

On Sunday, CIA Director Williams Burns held talks in the West Bank with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the "dangerous developments", the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israel is reeling after a man killed six Israelis in a shooting in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday.

The attack came a day after Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp, in the deadliest raid by Israeli forces in the West Bank in nearly two decades.

READ MORE: Israeli-Palestinian rising violence tests US as Blinken visits region