People check the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on Feb. 16, 2024. Palestinian medical sources told Xinhua that at least 11 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city on Friday. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)

China is deeply disappointed that the UN Security Council's call for a cease-fire had been forcibly blocked by the United States for a fourth time, Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said in a statement on Tuesday.  As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches, the international community must push for an immediate cease-fire and an end to the conflict with the strongest sense of urgency and the greatest political determination.

According to the statement, the current results of the Council's vote clearly show that the vast majority of Council members are unanimous on the issue of a cease-fire in Gaza, while the US exclusively abused its veto power to stifle the Council's consensus, which has caused widespread discontent in the international community. 

Geng said that the immediate cease-fire in Gaza is necessary to save innocent civilians, a prerequisite for humanitarian relief and a key to avoid further escalation and proliferation of the conflict. International community has to push for an immediate cease-fire to preserve the hope of survival for the people of Gaza. 

"We urge Israel to immediately reverse its course, cancel its plan of attack on Rafah, stop its military assault on Gaza and end its forced transfer and collective punishment of the Palestinian community,"  Geng said. "We call on the countries concerned to put aside geostrategic and domestic political considerations, to be truly impartial and responsible, and to make the right choice and play a constructive role in promoting a cease-fire in Gaza."

Gaza, which remains under fire, is facing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, with extreme shortages of survival supplies. Nearly 600,000 people are on the brink of starvation and social order is on the verge of collapse. 

Geng said that China urges Israel, as the occupying party, to fulfill its obligations under international law by guaranteeing the safe, rapid and unimpeded entry of sufficient humanitarian supplies and by taking practical measures to safeguard the safety of humanitarian agencies and personnel and provide them with the necessary facilities to carry out their relief work. Geng said that resolutions 2712 and 2720 adopted by the Council must be fully implemented.

Geng emphasized that the two-state solution is the only viable way to resolve the Hamas-Israeli conflict. The recent public rejection of the two-state solution by some Israeli political figures and the rejection of any international efforts to realize an independent Palestinian State are alarming. 

"China calls for intensified international and regional diplomatic efforts to reshape a credible multilateral process, revitalize the political prospects for the two-state solution and restart direct negotiations between Palestine and Israel," Geng said. "We advocate the convening of an international peace conference of greater scale, scope and effectiveness. We support Palestine's full membership in the UN as soon as possible."

China will continue to work with the international community to maintain unremitting efforts to put an end to the fighting in Gaza, and alleviate the humanitarian disaster, to implement the two-state solution and to realize long-term peace and security in the Middle East, Geng said.

Global Times