BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman has called upon the international community to put pressure on the Israeli government for stopping their settlement plans in the occupied West Bank.

He came up with the call in a Facebook post on Friday.

Urging all to condemn the issue, Tarique asked that “the International Court of Justice not delay their verdict of a clear genocide in Gaza by the Israeli government while Palestinians suffer even more.”

The BNP leader wrote, “Bangladeshis around the world have always stood in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Palestine against violent colonial oppression and erasure, and continue to do so proudly.”

Recent news of plans to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank that make any future Palestinian state virtually impossible is “heart-breaking”, he said.

“The continued apartheid and attack on the people of Palestine, their culture, their land, their history by Benjamin Netanyahu is no less than a genocide and planned ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. It is abhorrent.”

Mentioning that many Bangladeshis live and work within the Middle East and Gulf region, Tarique said, “I am deeply concerned for them and their families’ safety and security because of how this Israeli government is pushing the entire region towards an abyss.”