CAIRO

The Arab League convened an urgent meeting on Thursday to discuss recent Israeli aggression in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Held at the league’s Cairo headquarters and attended by its permanent representatives, the meeting comes at the request of the Palestinian leadership.

In its opening session, league representatives observed a minute of silence for Palestinians in Gaza recently martyred by Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages.

Saeed Abu Ali, league deputy secretary-general for Palestine affairs, called for an immediate halt to Israeli aggression and for international protection for the Palestinian people. 

"The UN Security Council appears unable to shoulder its responsibilities regarding the Israeli aggression on Gaza," he said. 

"The U.S., meanwhile, continues to show its bias towards Israel and to thwart all attempts to censure the [Israeli] occupation," Abu Ali added.

The meeting concluded with a final statement condemning Israel’s “systematic and wide-ranging crimes against Palestine’s unarmed civilian population”.

It went on to describe Israel’s recent attacks on the Gaza Strip as “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

Since Sunday, at least 14 Palestinians have been martyred -- by Israeli airstrikes and artillery -- across the blockaded territory. 

On Sunday night, an Israeli officer was killed -- and another injured -- in a botched ground operation in Gaza. 

Tensions appeared to ease slightly on Tuesday after Israel and Gaza-based resistance factions agreed to an Egypt-brokered cease-fire.