Three Palestinian men have been shot and killed by Israeli police after a shooting incident, which left a female police officer dead and another injured in occupied East Jerusalem.

Police said the Palestinians were armed with guns, knives and explosives, and opened fire at Israeli authorities at the Damascus Gate on Wednesday.

Two Israeli female police officers were injured during the shooting and transferred to a hospital, where one of them later died, officials said.

The incident Wednesday was the first time that three Palestinians have been killed in the same place since the surge in violence which began in October.

The Palestinian healthy ministry confirmed the deaths of the three Palestinian men.

Reports identified the three men as Ahmed Abou Al-Roub, Mohammed Kameel and Mohammed Nassar, all 20 years old.

Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Ramallah, said the three men were from the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank.

"This underscores the despair in the occupied Palestinian territories. When you speak to young Palestinians, they say the violence is in response to what they say are decades of Israeli occupation," he said.

He said the Israeli government, for its part, blames the Palestinian Authority for "inciting people on the streets".

Wednesday's incident comes just two days after a Palestinian was shot dead after an alleged stabbing attack in the West Bank.

Three Israelis were wounded in Monday's shooting.

Last Sunday, a Palestinian police officer was killed after allegedly opening fire on Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near the illegal settlement of Beit El in the West Bank.

Protests against Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, have become increasingly violent in recent months.

Since October 1, Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 170 Palestinians, including bystanders, unarmed demonstrators and attackers.

At least 27 Israelis have been killed in attacks carried out by Palestinians.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli border police officer searches a Palestinian man at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's Old City ahead of Friday prayers.

Al-Jazeera