A single-seat Israeli fighter jet has crashed in the occupied West Bank, killing its pilot, officials say.

Israeli police started searching in southern West Bank after receiving reports that a small aircraft may have crashed in the area on Sunday, AFP reported.

"Police received a report of a possible plane crash in the southern hills of Hebron," a police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said.

Officials later confirmed that an F-16 fighter jet had crashed near the settlement of Bnei Haver, in the rugged terrain of the Hebron Hills. It is not clear what caused the accident.

The pilot, the son of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon who died in the 2003 space shuttle Columbia explosion, was killed in action.

Israeli Blackhawk helicopters were the first to locate the plane. According to Haaretz, the search and rescue unit has retrieved the pilot’s body.

(Press TV)