The army operation, in which four soldiers were injured, took place on the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month.
Members of a special anti-terrorist unit operating in the area '
received information about a terrorist cell heading for an attack and attempted to stop the car
' with three Palestinians traveling between Jenin and Tulkarm, police said Israeli.
Read alsoA Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank
The activists then opened fire and the soldiers returned fire.
The three Palestinians were killed and four soldiers were injured, she added in a statement.
The Palestinian activists' vehicle was loaded with firearms and explosives, police said.
A few hours later, the Israeli army announced the arrest of a "
last terrorist suspected of being a member of the terrorist cell
" in a Palestinian village north of Tulkarem.
The armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement - based in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza under Israeli blockade - confirmed the death of three of its fighters, whom it identified as Saeb Abahra, Khalil Tawalbeh and Seif Abou Labdeh.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Saturday night praised security forces for foiling “
a ticking time bomb
,” saying Islamic Jihad operatives were on their way for an anti-Israel attack.
“
We assume that there will certainly be many more attempts and we are working to prevent them as well
,” he said in a video posted on his Facebook page.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, ruling Gaza, condemned the operation, warning that "
the policy of assassination carried out by the enemy in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem will not provide it with the so-called security
" .
.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, quoted by the official agency Wafa, for his part denounced a “
horrible crime
”.
Israeli leaders "
must stop committing crimes and violations against our people, must respond to their legitimate rights to freedom and independence, and end the occupation...
" he said.
Deadly violence for several days
In recent days, deadly violence has erupted in the West Bank and Israel.
On Friday, a Palestinian was killed by Israeli forces in Hebron in the southern West Bank during a protest against Israeli settlements.
The army spoke of "
a suspect who fired a Molotov cocktail at the soldiers, putting their lives in danger
".
Thursday in Jenin, two Palestinians were killed by the army who wanted to arrest "
suspects
" linked to an anti-Israeli attack carried out on Tuesday near Tel Aviv on Tuesday which left five dead.
The Palestinian assailant was shot dead.
Another Palestinian was killed on Thursday after stabbing a passenger in the West Bank.
Since March 22, 11 people have been killed in anti-Israeli attacks, some of which were carried out by assailants linked to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
According to an AFP tally from Palestinian and Israeli sources, eight Palestinians have been killed since the same date: two assailants in anti-Israeli attacks and six Palestinians suspected by Israeli authorities of carrying out attacks or to be about to do so.
The Israeli army has deployed reinforcements in the West Bank and multiplied arrests, especially after the attack near Tel Aviv.
About 475,000 Israelis live in the West Bank in settlements deemed illegal under international law.
More than 2.8 million Palestinians also live in this territory.
The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians to find a settlement to their conflict has stalled since 2014.
During the last decade, upheavals in the Middle East, such as the Arab Spring, the war in Syria, the emergence of IS or the Iranian nuclear issue, have eclipsed the Palestinian question.