Israeli forces on Tuesday arrested two Palestinians suspected of shooting dead an Israeli settler near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since early last year.

Batsheva Nigri, 40, was killed on Monday in a drive-by shooting while travelling in a car with her daughter and a man near Hebron, in the second attack targeting Israelis in the territory within days.

Her daughter was unhurt but the man was wounded and was in serious condition, the Israeli army and medics said.

Meanwhile, two Palestinian residents of Hebron suspected of being the perpetrators of the shooting were arrested, the army said, after roads in the vicinity of the attack were blocked and a large manhunt was conducted.

"During their initial questioning, the two linked themselves to carrying out the attack," the army said in a statement, adding they had turned in the weapon allegedly used in the attack.

Nigri was a teacher and resident of Beit Hagai, an Israeli settlement south of Hebron.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, had called her killing a "heroic act" and a "normal response" to settlement projects.

The attack came two days after an Israeli father and son were shot dead at a car wash in the town of Huwara in the West Bank.

Israel has yet to make any arrests in that case despite a search operation that has seen troops raid villages and carry out house-to-house searches.

Access24 reports that there has been a surge in violence in the West Bank since early last year, with a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli targets, repeated deadly Israeli army raids and violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinian communities.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War, when it also seized the Gaza Strip but withdrew from it in 2005.

Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to nearly three million Palestinians and around 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law.