Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid today sent a letter to world leaders to block the Palestinians' attempt at the United Nations (UN) to obtain an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Israeli occupation, his office said.

In a letter addressed to more than 50 heads of state, Lapid asked them to pressure the Palestinian Authority, which has limited power in the occupied West Bank, to prevent it from promoting the resolution in the General Assembly.

The resolution, which was approved by the UN committee earlier this month, asks the ICJ to "urgently" consider the issue of Israel's "long-term occupation, construction of settlements and annexation of Palestinian territory", which it says violates the right of Palestinians to self-determination.

This resolution is the result of a concerted effort to name-call Israel, discredit Israel's legitimate security concerns, and delegitimize Israel's very existence, Lapid wrote in a letter to world leaders.

Israel claimed the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the June 1967 Six Day War against Egypt, Iran, Syria and Iraq.

The outgoing Israeli Prime Minister points out that the status of the disputed territory must be the subject of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and that "the involvement of the International Monetary Fund in this whole matter will only benefit the extremists".

US-brokered negotiations between the two sides have been frozen since 2014.