West Bank, ALRAY - Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau has announced that the Spanish city was suspending all institutional ties with the Israeli occupation, including freezing a twinning agreement with "Tel Aviv."

In a letter addressed to the Israeli occupation prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Colau said that the decision came in response to a petition presented by several pro-Palestine groups requesting that her office "condemn the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people."

She added that the agreements would remain suspended until "Israeli authorities put an end to the systematic violation of the people of Palestine’s human rights.”

Delivering a speech in Barcelona Wednesday night, Colau said: "We hope that this suspension will be temporary because what we want is to invite reflection and action."

The number of Palestinians who have been killed by the Israeli occupation army and Israeli colonial settlers so far this year has jumped to 42, including nine children and an elderly woman.