Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki announced that his country had requested emergency meetings of the UN Security Council, the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to provide "international protection" for the Palestinian people.
This move comes after the Israeli army killed, on Wednesday, 11 Palestinians and wounded dozens with bullets, during its storming of the city of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank.
Al-Maliki said - in a statement - that Palestine "has submitted a request to hold an emergency meeting of the Security Council to condemn the crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinians, the latest of which is the Nablus massacre and the rest of the ongoing massacres, and to request international protection."
Palestine also requested an emergency meeting of the Arab League Council (22 countries) at the level of delegates, and an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (57 countries), with the aim of collective and individual condemnation by countries of the "occupation massacres," in addition to "requesting international protection," according to the statement.
In the same context, the Palestinian delegate to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said that a meeting will be held for Arab ambassadors to the United Nations, to discuss the issue of moving in the UN Security Council with regard to providing protection for the Palestinian people.
international concern
Mansour added that he conveyed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations today the details of the Nablus massacre, and informed him of the demands of the Palestinian people represented in ending these massacres and providing international protection.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said - via Twitter - that the Palestinian leadership is "deeply considering taking steps at all levels," in light of the continuation of Israeli crimes.
For his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, expressed his deep concern over the deaths and injuries in Nablus during the Israeli security operation.
For its part, the US State Department said that the United States is deeply concerned about the levels of violence in Israel and the West Bank, and fears that a raid by Israeli forces there could set back efforts to restore calm.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price told a news conference that Washington understands Israel's security concerns, but is deeply concerned about the large number of civilian casualties and deaths.
"We have had fruitful conversations in recent days with the parties and with the United States' regional partners, to support efforts to prevent further violence," Price said.
According to a previous statement by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the beginning of this year is the bloodiest in the West Bank since 2000, as this number of Palestinian martyrs (61 martyrs) was not recorded during the first two months in the past 22 years.