The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Saturday that 12 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) since the start of the year.

The ministry held the occupation authority responsible for the ongoing crimes and atrocities in the occupied territories.

The statement added that three children were among those killed by the IOF in the past two weeks and that the latest victims were three men shot in Jenin.

The escalating violations and crimes of the Israeli Occupation would only embolden the Palestinians to uphold their rights, the ministry said.

It added that the Israeli Occupation is fully and directly to blame for the "ongoing crimes against the unarmed people of Palestine, their land, homes, properties and sanctities."

"Israel is carrying out extrajudicial killings and field executions and using live bullets with the intent to kill upon orders from the political and military echelons of the state of occupation," it said.

The ministry called on the international community and the US administration to exert pressure on the Israeli Occupation, the occupying power, to stop the "bloody escalation."

It also urged the International Criminal Court to quickly complete investigations in order to hold the occupying state and the perpetrators of crimes accountable.

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