Israeli troops have killed three Palestinians in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a press statement on Tuesday that "the three citizens were martyred as a result of the Israeli occupation's direct shooting at them in Nablus."

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli special forces stormed the Nablus' Al Makhfieh neighbourhood, and opened fire at a Palestinian car.

Activists circulated a video showing an Israeli special force running after firing at the car.

Israel's border police said the dead were "armed terrorists who were ... killed during clashes with the security forces".

The official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said a special military force killed three members of a "military cell" in Nablus, and claimed that they recently carried out a series of shooting attacks in the vicinity of the city.

Onlookers captured video of the bullet-ridden vehicle, shot in broad daylight in the city.

Hundreds of Palestinians thronged the streets outside Rafidia hospital in Nablus as the bodies of the three were carried out.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, and Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers reside in the territory alongside more than 2.5 million Palestinians.

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