Israeli soldiers shot and wounded four Palestinian youths on Wednesday while firing at protesters throwing stones at Israeli civilian vehicles, an Israeli military spokesman and medics said.

Two of the wounded were in serious condition in an Israeli hospital, and two others were listed as moderate in a Palestinian hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus, an Israeli military source and Palestinian medical officials said.

A Palestinian official said all those who were shot were boys younger than 16. The Israeli spokesman had no details on their identities.

The Israeli spokesman said soldiers opened fire with live ammunition at Palestinians who threw stones at Israeli civilian vehicles on a road near Nablus. Three Israelis were injured in a similar stoning assault earlier in the day, the spokesman said.

Confrontations between Israelis and Palestinians occur frequently in the West Bank, land Israel captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians seek for a state.