Young Palestinian man Udai Tamimi, who had been on the run after allegedly killing an Israeli soldier earlier this month was shot to death in the West Bank on Wednesday.

Tamimi had been sought by Israeli security forces since the alleged shooting of an 18-year-old Israeli soldier earlier this month at a checkpoint at the entrance to the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem.

The 10-day search for the fugitive had resulted in clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in the camp, while also severely impeding daily life for Palestinians there.

Young Palestinian men in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem shaved their heads to look like Tamimi to help him evade Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli army said Tamimi had hidden in the refugee camp, and they surrounded the camp and nearby neighborhoods for five days, where approximately 150,000 Palestinians live.

Israeli troops closed the checkpoints and carried out raids, turning the camp’s streets into battlefields.

As the Israeli army's blockade of the camp paralyzed daily life, the camp’s residents protested against the siege, describing it as "collective punishment."

People throughout Palestine, particularly in East Jerusalem, staged demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinians in Shuafat. Strikes were declared in many cities, workplaces were closed and education was suspended at schools.

Tamimi was killed on Wednesday after an alleged gun attack against Israelis at the entrance to a West Bank settlement.

The attacker "fired at the entrance of Maale Adumim (settlement) toward security guards... wounding one of them in the hand before being neutralized by the other guards," Israeli police said in a statement.

An Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer saw the body of the alleged assailant on the ground, surrounded by Israeli police officers.

The Magen David Adom, Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross, said it treated "a man in his 20s with an injured hand" who was then taken to a Jerusalem hospital.

Maale Adumim is one of the biggest Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Violence has surged in recent months, amid near-daily West Bank raids by Israeli forces and an uptick in attacks on troops.

More than 100 Palestinian fighters and civilians have been killed since the start of the year, the heaviest toll in the West Bank for nearly seven years, according to the United Nations.

The expansion of military operations in Jenin and elsewhere in the West Bank followed deadly attacks on Israelis earlier this year.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.

Around 475,000 Israelis now live in illegal settlements across the territory, which are considered illegal by most of the international community.

They live alongside some 2.8 million Palestinians, who in different areas of the West Bank are subject to Israeli military rule or live under limited Palestinian governance.