According to Palestinian sources, three Palestinian fighters were slain in an overnight Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the three men slain in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus as Muhammad Abu Zaytoun (32), Fathi Abu Rizk (30), and Abdullah Abu Hamdan (24), according to a statement released on Monday. 

Upon being contacted by AFP, the Israeli army provided no immediate comment.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed branch of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, said in a statement that the three were "fighters" for the organization.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Nearly three million Palestinians and approximately 490,000 Israelis live in settlements deemed illegal under international law.

Following a five-day cross-border conflict between Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group, a fragile armistice has been in place in Gaza for just over a week.

153 Palestinians, 20 Israelis, a Ukrainian, and an Italian have been killed in violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the beginning of the year, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources on both parties.

They include combatants and civilians on the Palestinian side, mostly civilians and three Arab minority members on the Israeli side.