China reiterates call for immediate cease-fire in Gaza

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) – China has reiterated its call for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and said the region has sunk into an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.

Speaking at the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the Chinese envoy to the United Nations Office in Geneva Chen Xu said that an immediate cease-fire is the urgent demand of the world community and a fundamental necessity for achieving peace.

"China is calling on Israel to allow humanitarian organizations to have the resources they need to conduct rescue missions in Gaza and to properly enforce the interim measures and directives from the International Court of Justice," Xinhua News on Friday quoted Chen as saying.

He added that Beijing always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights, and strongly opposed the forced transfer of the Palestinian people and the occupation of Palestinian territory.

"The two-state solution is the general consensus of the international community and a realistic way to ultimately realize the peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel," Chen said.

He called on the international community to make unremitting efforts to end the ongoing war and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and other areas of Palestine.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 30,228 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed and over 71,377 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid