A Palestinian woman bakes unleavened bread in a makeshift oven on June 30, 2024 while sitting on the rubble of buildings destroyed in the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.(Photo by AFP)

Cairo, July 1 (RHC)-- Palestine has submitted a request to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League to discuss Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip and the regime's settlement expansion in the West Bank. 

Mohannad Aklouk, Palestine’s permanent representative to the Arab League, called for the session of the Arab League at the level of permanent representatives.  "The meeting will be held at the level of permanent delegates this week to discuss confronting the Israeli crimes of genocide and colonial expansion in the West Bank,” Aklouk said in an interview with the official Palestinian news agency WAFA on Sunday.  However, the pan-Arab body has not made any confirmation of the meeting yet.

On Thursday, Israel’s extremist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that the Security Cabinet authorized one outpost for every country that unilaterally recognized Palestine as a state in the last month.

Last month, Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognized the Palestinian state, joining over 140 UN member states that have recognized its statehood over the past four decades.  Slovenia and Malta have also indicated they plan to formally recognize the state of Palestine.

The five settlement outposts are Evyatar, Givat Assaf, Sde Efraim, Heletz, and Adorayim.  International law regards both the West Bank and al-Quds as occupied territories and considers all Israeli settlement-building activity there to be illegal.

Tensions have been high across the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank since Israel launched a genocidal war in October 2023, which has killed at least 37,877 Palestinian people and injured 86,969 others.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice.  The ICJ in January ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the 1949 Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians.

In its latest ruling, the court ordered the Tel Aviv regime to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6th.