Some 4,000 Palestinians rioted and threw rocks at Israeli motorists in Hebron Saturday night, after four Palestinians died in a fatal car wreck earlier in the day.

"Troops used riot-dispersal gear to break up the attack," the Israel Defense Forces spokesman told Xinhua Sunday, adding that " three cars were damaged and a settler was lightly wounded in an altercation with several of the Palestinians."

Soldiers used tear gas and fired in the air to stop the Palestinians, who struck out at the Israelis during the funeral procession for the four occupants of the vehicle, which apparently lost control and flipped over along a nearby road.

Meanwhile, an Israeli trucker on Sunday morning said he was forced to open fire at three Palestinians near Hebron who he said tried to kidnap him and steal his vehicle.

"In an attempted robbery of a tow truck, the driver was stopped by a number of Palestinians," Israel Police Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said Sunday.

"He drew his weapon and fired a number of shots," Rosenfeld said, adding that "the driver was struck in the head a number of times" with metal bars wielded by the alleged assailants.

Bodies of the two dead Palestinians were sent to a hospital in Hebron. Palestinian sources said the third alleged assailant was injured in the shooting.

Police are questioning the driver, who they said sustained light-to-moderate injuries in the attack, and is being treated at a Beersheba hospital.