Israeli soldiers stand at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus on June 10 after a Palestinian attempted a stabbing attack. (Photo by Majdi Mohammed/Reuters)

Israeli troops mistakenly killed a 15-year-old Palestinian bystander on Tuesday as the military responded with gunfire to a petrol bomb and rock attack launched on Israeli vehicles in the occupied West Bank, the latest clash between Palestinian and Israelis in recent months.

The military said several Palestinians threw petrol bombs and stones at vehicles, injuring three civilians, on a highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that traverses the West Bank. Israeli media reports said two of those hurt were foreign tourists.

Following the attack, Israeli troops chased the assailants. A military spokeswoman told Reuters that "after an initial inquiry, it appears that uninvolved bystanders were mistakenly hit during the pursuit. She identified one of them as the Palestinian boy killed in the incident and said the military had opened an investigation. An earlier statement from the military had identified the dead Palestinian as an assailant.

Abdul Karim Kassem, head of the local council of the Palestinian village of Beit Ore-Tahta, identified the teenager killed in the incident on Highway 443 as Mahmoud Badran and told Reuters he was in a car with other passengers "returning from a pool in a village near us when they came under fire."

Another Palestinian was wounded by Israeli gunfire and taken to hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The military said two additional suspects were arrested.

Over the past eight months, Palestinian attacks have killed 32 Israelis and two visiting US citizens. Israeli forces have shot dead at least 197 Palestinians, 134 of whom Israel has said were assailants. Others were killed in clashes and protests.The last deadly violent incident occurred on June 8 when two Palestinian gunmen shot dead four Israelis at a cafe in Tel Aviv.

Palestinian leaders say attackers have acted out of desperation over peace talks frozen since 2014 and Israeli settlement building in occupied territory that Palestinians seek for a state. Tensions over Jewish access to a volatile and contested Jerusalem holy site, revered by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and Jews as Temple Mount, have also fuelled the violence.

Israel says incitement in the Palestinian media and personal problems at home have been important factors that have spurred assailants, often teenagers, to launch attacks.