The United Nations Security Council is likely to meet on Friday at the request of eight states on the 15-member body over US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, diplomats say.
The request for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to publicly brief the Security Council meeting was made by France, Bolivia, Egypt, Italy, Senegal, Sweden, Britain and Uruguay.
Trump abruptly reversed decades of US policy on Wednesday, generating outrage from Palestinians and defying warnings of Middle East unrest. Trump also plans to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city's eastern sector, which Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move never recognised internationally.
After Trump spoke on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters: "I have consistently spoken out against any unilateral measures that would jeopardise the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians."
"In this moment of great anxiety, I want to make it clear: There is no alternative to the two-state solution. There is no Plan B," he said. "I will do everything in my power to support the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to return to meaningful negotiations."
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley praised Trump's decision as "the just and right thing to do."
