Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman has strongly condemned Israel’s recent plans to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling the move “heartbreaking” and a step that makes a future Palestinian state “virtually impossible.”

In a post on his verified Facebook page today, Tarique Rahman said Bangladeshis across the world have always stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people against “violent colonial oppression and erasure.”

He said the continued apartheid and attacks on the Palestinian people, their culture, land, and history by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “no less than genocide and planned ethnic cleansing,” calling the situation “abhorrent.”

The BNP leader also expressed deep concern for the safety of Bangladeshis living and working in the Middle East and Gulf region, warning that Israel’s actions are “pushing the entire region towards an abyss.”

Concluding his statement, Tarique urged the international community to condemn and pressure Israel to halt its settlement plans. He also called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) not to delay its verdict on what he termed “a clear genocide in Gaza,” stressing that Palestinians continue to suffer daily.