BETHLEHEM: A Palestinian woman died after inhaling tear gas used by Israeli troops near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, a medical official said Tuesday, but the military denied any involvement.

The army “fired tear gas” at stone-throwing Palestinians late Monday near the home of the woman, who was “suffering from health problems,” the official said.

The woman, in her 40s, “died after arriving at hospital.”

The incident took place at Ayda refugee camp northwest of Bethlehem, where Palestinians regularly clash with Israeli soldiers.

In a similar incident in January, an 85-year-old Palestinian man died in his own home after breathing in tear gas fired by Israeli security forces near Nablus.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops were scouring a village near the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday, residents said, a day after a gunman killed an Israeli nearby.

The incident at the start of the Jewish Passover holiday on Monday was the first deadly attack on an Israeli in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year, and came as tensions were soaring over the near-breakdown of US-brokered peace talks.

The army was searching several houses and businesses close to where the incident took place southwest of Idhna, a village outside Hebron, residents told AFP.