A Palestinian woman has been shot and wounded after stabbing an Israeli civilian in the southern West Bank, police say.

The Israeli suffered minor injuries in the stabbing, which happened at a crossroads near the Gush Etzion bloc south of Bethlehem, police said in a statement without providing any further information.

Police initially said an Israeli soldier was attacked.

The military said the attacker was "overcome" by security forces and taken for medical treatment.

Her condition is not known, while the Israeli was treated at the scene.

Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have increased in recent months following a number of deadly attacks in Jerusalem and the fatal stabbing of an Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv.

Israeli security forces killed the perpetrators of most of those attacks at the scene.