JERUSALEM: Four Palestinians and one Israeli were killed in a shooting in the northern West Bank, health officials said Friday. Several more people were injured.

The circumstances of the shooting, which occurred near the city of Nablus, were not immediately clear. Violence in the Israeli-occupied territory has flared in recent days.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said the four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces. Israel's Magen David Adom rescue services did not say who had killed the Israeli man. Palestinian health officials said they were treating four injured Palestinians, three in critical condition. Israel's rescue service said two injured Israelis were being airlifted out of the West Bank.

The Israeli military said in a statement that soldiers responded to a report of an attack on Israeli civilians hiking near the settlement of Havat Gilad, west of Nablus. It said it had imposed a “temporary cordon” around Nablus and the nearby Palestinian village of Tell.