An Eritrean man was mistaken for a second 'terrorist' by Israeli police in the aftermath of an attack on a bus station in Beersheba.
Police opened fire on the man who was wounded in the lower body when they mistook him for an assailant, police commander Yoram Halevy said.
The shooting of the innocent man will be investigated, Halevy said.
One soldier was killed and 11 people were wounded after a Palestinian gunman went on a shooting rampage at the central bus station in one of the most serious attacks against Israelis in this month's upsurge of violence, police said.
Police shot the attacker dead after a protracted gun battle, they said.
Palestinian media outlets named the attacker as Asam al-Araj from Shuafat, on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Halevy says the attacker entered the bus station with a gun and a knife and then snatched another gun from one of his victims.
A number of the wounded were police officers. Hospital officials said two people were in critical condition.
Initial reports had said two attackers were involved but the regional police commander said investigators later believed there was only one.
The attack came as Israel further tightened security around the country, highlighted by the construction of a barrier separating Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem.
Forty-two Palestinians and eight Israelis have died in the recent violence, which was in part triggered by Palestinians' anger over what they see as increased Jewish encroachment on Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
