Jerusalem/Ramallah, Feb 9 (IANS): Israel has confirmed its forces killed three Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during an alleged "operation to thwart a terror cell".

The three men were "armed terrorists who were ... killed during clashes with the security forces," Israel's Border Police announced on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement that Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinian men in al-Makhfeya neighbourhood in the city of Nablus, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israel's Shin Bet security service claimed in a separate statement that the three killed Palestinians were responsible for several recent shooting attacks against the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli civilians, adding that the Israeli forces suffered no casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted that "those who harm us will be harmed".

On the other side, Palestine called on the international community to investigate the Israeli killing, as its cabinet called on the United Nations, the human rights organisations and the international law organisations to "condemn the awful crime and act".

According to a statement issued by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed wing of the Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the three men are members of the group and "heroic martyrs".

Recent weeks have seen a sharp rise in violence of Jewish settlers against the Palestinians and Palestinian property in the West Bank, as well as Palestinian attacks against Israeli forces and settlers.