Children crying because of Israeli raids on October 15, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Many Gazan citizens have fled to the south following warnings from the Israeli government to do so. Israel has sealed off Gaza and launched sustained retaliatory air strikes, which have killed at least 1,400 people with more than 300,000 displaced, after a large-scale attack by Hamas.
Ahmad Hasaballah | Getty Images News | Getty Images
China urged Israel to stop its collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, as the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken raced through the Middle East over the weekend in an attempt to stave off a wider war in the region.
It’s been more than a week after the Hamas militant group staged its worst assault 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 have 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 assault aimed at eradicating Hamas.
Israel’s actions have gone beyond self-defense and it should heed the call of the international community.
Wang Yi
Chinese Foreign Minister
“Israel’s actions have gone beyond self-defense and it should heed the call of the international community and the Secretary-General of the United Nations to stop its collective punishment of the people in Gaza,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi reportedly told his Saudi Arabia counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in a call on Sunday.
“The exercise of the right of self-defense should abide by international humanitarian law and should not be at the expense of innocent civilian casualties,” Wang was reported to have said, in a separate call with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan.
Wang’s comments came in a series of calls over the weekend, as world leaders worked to prevent an escalation of the Israel-Hamas war into a broader…
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