“Three Palestinians have been killed by Israeli shelling in Nablus,” the ministry said, adding that those killed in the northern West Bank are still unknown.
The Israeli army said that “three terrorists” shot at its soldiers in a car in the Nablus area and that the soldiers fired to “disable” them.
The soldiers also recovered three M-16 rifles, rifles, cartridges and other weapons, the army said.
Spokesman for the President of Palestine, Nabil Abu Rudinehit said on Tuesday the killing of three Palestinians was a “war crime”.
“Israel’s crimes will not bring our people to their knees, and they will not bring security and peace to anyone,” he said in a statement.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Seven-Day War.
Since the beginning of last year, the area has been subject to attacks on Palestinians for Israeli reasons, as well as violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
Violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian war this year has killed at least 201 Palestinians, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP tally compiled from government sources on both sides.
They include, on the Palestinian side, civilian fighters and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.
With the exception of East Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to approximately three million Palestinians, as well as approximately 490,000 Israelis who live in areas considered off-limits under international law.