Children crying because of Israeli raids on October 15, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Many Gazans have fled to the south following warnings from the Israeli government to do so. Israel has blockaded Gaza and launched continuous retaliatory airstrikes, which have killed at least 1,400 people and displaced more than 300,000, following a large-scale attack by Hamas.
Ahmad Hasaballah | News Getty Images | Getty Images
China urged Israel to stop collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raced through the Middle East at the weekend in a bid to prevent a wider war in the region.
It has been more than a week since the Hamas militant group carried out its worst attack on Israel since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, killing at least 1,400 mostly civilians in the Jewish state.
In retaliation, Israel last week pounded Gaza in airstrikes that killed at least 2,670, cut off food, water, fuel and electricity to the Palestinian enclave and ordered civilians to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive aimed at eliminating Hamas.
Israel’s actions have gone beyond self-defense and it should respond to the call of the international community.
Wang Yi
Chinese Foreign Minister
“Israel’s actions have gone beyond self-defense and should heed the call of the international community and the UN Secretary-General to stop the collective punishment of the people in Gaza,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. he is reported to have said his Saudi Arabian counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in a call on Sunday.
“Exercising the right of self-defense should comply with international humanitarian law and should not be at the expense of innocent civilian casualties,” Wang was quoted as saying. separate call with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.
Wang’s comments came in a series of phone calls over the weekend as world leaders worked to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from escalating into a wider Middle East conflict.
As Blinken ran in seven countries in the region — Israel, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt — in recent days, Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi warned in a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday that the war would escalate if Israel’s siege of Gaza does not stop.
“Israel has the right – indeed it has the obligation – to defend itself against these attacks by Hamas and try to do everything it can to ensure that this never happens again,” Blinken told reporters as he arrived in Cairo on Sunday.
“As I said in Tel Aviv, as President Biden said, the way Israel does this matters. It must do so in a way that affirms our shared values of human life and human dignity, taking every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians,” he added.
Blinken’s efforts brought at least some respite.
Egypt agreed to open its border to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza from 9am local time on Monday, while Palestinians with foreign passports are now allowed to cross Gaza’s southern border with Egypt to fly from Cairo to their final destinations.
Underscoring the gravity of the Gaza crisis, Biden on Sunday appointed former ambassador David Satterfield as his Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Affairs.
A senior US official told NBC News that Biden is considering inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to travel to Israel for a solidarity visit amid the war.
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