RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestine on Tuesday appealed for international intervention to halt Israeli military escalation in the Gaza Strip.

At least 13 Palestinians were killed, including four children and four women, and 20 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on the blockaded territory early Tuesday, according to the Health Ministry.

In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry termed the Israeli escalation as a “heinous crime" and "an extension of the [Israeli] occupation's open war against" the Palestinian people.

The ministry held the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for the consequences of its attacks.

“A negotiated political solution is the only way to achieve security and stability,” the statement said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, for his part, condemned the Israeli attacks as “state terrorism.”

"The aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip is organized state terrorism and an attempt to export the internal crisis that the government of extremism in Israel suffers from," Shtayyeh said in a statement.

At least 123 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of this year, according to Palestinian figures. Nineteen Israelis have also been killed in separate attacks during the same period.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar