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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces at the entrance of the al-Arroub refugee camp in the southern occupied West Bank on Thursday afternoon after reportedly attempting to attack a soldier.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an a Palestinian attacked an Israeli soldier with an ax near the camp, which is located in the northern Hebron governorate and is neighbored by the illegal settlement of Etzion.

"Israeli forces fired towards the assailant, resulting in his death," she said, adding that a soldier was wounded in the altercation, but did not need to be evacuated.

Palestinian medics identified the slain Palestinian as 50-year-old Ibrahim Baradiya.

Baradiya is the first Palestinian to be killed by Israeli forces since the March 24 killing of Abd al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif, 21, which sparked international outrage after footage was released showing an Israeli soldier shooting al-Sharif in the head while the young Palestinian was lying wounded on the ground after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier.

An Israeli military court confirmed on Thursday that it would charge the soldier who killed al-Sharif with manslaughter rather than murder as had been widely expected.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since a wave of unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October.

The unrest has been marked by a surge of small-scale attacks carried out by Palestinian individuals -- predominantly on Israeli military targets -- which have left nearly 30 Israelis dead, with the majority of suspected Palestinian attackers shot dead on site.