UN chief warns against misuse of force as he meets Netanyahu

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday warned against any misuse of force as he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in a bid to calm nearly three weeks of unrest, Agence France-Presse reported.

Ban also spoke of the danger of allowing an escalation "into a religious conflict with potential regional implications" and urged efforts to ensure that did not occur.

The UN secretary general told reporters that "security measures can be counterproductive if they are applied without special efforts to defuse the situation before people lose their lives."

Any misuse of force, he said, "may breed the very frustrations and anxieties from which violence" can erupt.

Israeli forces have faced accusations of excessive force against Palestinians in the current wave of violence.

Videos of Israeli troops shooting alleged attackers that have spread online have helped feed anger, with Palestinians viewing some of the shootings as unjustified.

In the latest incident, a Palestinian vehicle ran over and killed an Israeli motorist whom a Reuters photographer said was using a club to hit Palestinian protesters and cars on a roadside in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 

Israeli forces said the man had stopped his car after stones were thrown at it.

The driver of the Palestinian vehicle, which the photographer said the Israeli had hit with his club, later turned himself in to Palestinian police, which had no comment on the event. 

Israeli forces said it was not immediately clear if the Israeli had been run over deliberately.

About two hours later, another Palestinian rammed his car into a bus stop near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, injuring two people, the Israeli military said. 

It said the man then got out of the vehicle and tried to stab people before being shot. Israeli forces said he had been killed.

Earlier, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli officer in the West Bank before other troops shot him, the Israeli military said. 

The Palestinian health ministry said he was killed, according to Reuters.

In Gaza, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian fighter close to the border fence, the Israeli military said. 

Al Sabireen, a small fighter group, confirmed he was one of their members.

Early on Tuesday, the Israeli military said its forces had detained Hassan Youssef, a Hamas leader in the West Bank, for “actively instigating and inciting terrorism”.