The United Nations on Thursday called on Israel to unlock millions of dollars in taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority that were withheld after it decided to join the International Criminal Court.

The United Nations on Thursday called on Israel to unlock millions of dollars in taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority that were withheld after it decided to join the International Criminal Court.

A senior UN official told the Security Council that the freeze of about $127 million imposed on January 3 was in violation of the Oslo agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.

"We call on Israel to immediately resume the transfer of tax revenues," said UN Assistant Secretary-General Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen.

The United States and the European Union have criticized Israel's move in response to the Palestinian application to join the ICC, which could investigate war crimes complaints against the Zionist entity.

The 15-member council was meeting to discuss the Middle East after rejecting in a vote last month a resolution on Palestinian statehood that had been strongly opposed by the United States.

The UN official told the council that recent developments had further reduced prospects for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The Palestinians and the Israeli regime are "now engaged in a downward spiral of actions and counter-actions," warned Toyberg-Frandzen.

The council was meeting as Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo decided to make another attempt to win approval for a UN resolution on ending Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.

Several Arab countries were tasked with "the necessary communications and consultations to submit a new Arab proposal to the Security Council," according to a statement from the Arab League.