Jerusalem (AFP) - A Palestinian man who tried to hit Israeli soldiers with a small tractor in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron was shot dead, the army said.

"The 35-year-old terrorist from Beit Ummar, northwest of Hebron, attempted to run over an (Israeli military) officer and soldier with a small Bobcat tractor," the army said, correcting an earlier statement saying the alleged assailant was driving a car.

The troops ordered the driver to halt, but "the terrorist turned around and continued driving with the intention to attack nearby civilians," it said in a statement.

A soldier on a nearby roof who saw what was happening then "fired at the terrorist, who was killed", it said.

Neither the Israeli army nor Palestinian officials published the alleged attacker's name.

Hebron, in the southern West Bank, is the only Palestinian city in the territory containing a Jewish community, comprising several hundred Israeli settlers under heavy military guard among some 200,000 Palestinians.

Separately, on Friday a 21-year-old Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border fence, where clashes were taking place.

Razan al-Najjar, a volunteer with the Gaza health ministry, was wearing the white uniform of a medic when she was shot in the chest.

According to the health ministry in Gaza, another 40 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire in Friday's clashes.

The Israeli army said Saturday that cases such as Najjar's, "in which civilians are allegedly killed" by Israeli fire, "are thoroughly examined" by an internal military committee.