AFP - Israeli soldiers shot dead a settler and wounded two others when they opened fire on a car at a military roadblock in the West Bank on Friday, the army said.

"Soldiers who had been warned of a suspicious vehicle opened fire, killing one Israeli and wounding two others," a military spokesman told AFP.

The car, driving from the Beit Hagai settlement towards Hebron, had failed to stop at a barrier specially erected to intercept it following an alert, the spokesman said.

Palestinians have been the victims of similar shootings in the past, accusing Israeli soldiers of opening fire without warning on vehicles they consider suspect.

The army has opened a probe into Friday's incident.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's inner cabinet decided to speed up construction of Jewish settlements in annexed, mainly Arab east Jerusalem and the West Bank, a day after the UN cultural organisation UNESCO accepted Palestine as a full member.