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Forums - Politics Discussion - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 29 May 2024

‘Brutal and senseless occupation’ of Palestinian land: Algeria ambassador

At the UN Security Council, Algeria presented a draft resolution that “demands an immediate ceasefire respected by all parties” and the release of all captives in Gaza.

Amar Bendjama, Algeria’s ambassador to the United Nations, described the need for Israel to end its devastating war on Gaza, but he also raised the continuing violence in the occupied West Bank.

“This grim reality reflects the brutal and senseless nature of the Israeli occupation,” he told the council. “Addressing the symptoms without tackling the root cause – the occupation of Palestinian land – will not lead to lasting peace.”

He said the Security Council has the “primary responsibility” to ensure the implementation of relevant resolutions relating to Palestine, including on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, where 800,000 Jewish settlers currently live.


Algeria pushing for Gaza ceasefire resolution at UN Security Council

Algeria, supported by the Arab Group, put forward this draft resolution. It essentially calls for an end to the Rafah offensive and a ceasefire, and the release of all captives from Gaza.

We know from speaking to the United States ambassador on the way into the council that there’s little chance of this being adopted by the UN Security Council.

The US continues to voice its position that such a resolution would not be helpful, that any way forward has to come by Israel and Hamas sitting down and negotiating … a ceasefire that they can agree to. And of course, the United States emphasised the release of all captives as key to those efforts.


Palestinians ‘in constant battle with death’: Palestine’s UN envoy

Majed Bamya, the State of Palestine’s deputy permanent observer to the UN, has delivered a powerful address to the Security Council, urging the world to take action to end Israel’s war on Gaza.

  • “If the Israeli assault stopped today, and we decided to hold a funeral every single day for each Palestinian killed in the last eight months, it would take us 100 years to honour them all.”
  • “There is barely anything left in Gaza; Israel has destroyed everything. But there is everything left still in Gaza: 2.3 million people who have been in a constant battle with death for the last eight months.”
  • “You have learned to live with Israel’s irrational and racist behaviour – but we die because of it.”
  • “The incitement by the Israeli representatives against the UN has real-life consequences, cannot be tolerated any longer. The signal to their soldiers, to their extremists, that the UN is an enemy and a legitimate target – this explains why this is the deadliest conflict for UN personnel.”
  • “When will it be enough? What other level of cruelty must be reached before this assault is finally brought to an end? There is no red line imposed by legality, rationality, humanity that Israel has not crossed.”



Israeli UN representative defends ‘precise’ attack that killed dozens of civilians

Brett Jonathan Miller, an Israeli representative at the UN Security Council, says the attack on Gaza is a “just and moral war Israeli is fighting against the bloodthirsty, genocidal terror organisation of Hamas”.

“This war began with Hamas carrying out the most heinous of atrocities wrought upon Israelis in history, and it continues because the very same terrorists are still holding 125 innocent hostages in Gaza while continuing to fire rockets on Israel’s towns and cities,” said Miller.

“Israel has been very clear from the outset this war can end tomorrow without one more shot being fired. All that is required is for Hamas to release the hostages and put down their arms. These are our conditions and we’re not asking for anything more.”

He called Sunday’s air raid on Rafah that killed 45 people “precise”, saying two Hamas officials were killed in the attack. He added the war is not against the people of Gaza, only Hamas.

“Where is the condemnation for Hamas using civilians as human shields and civilian sites as weapon depots?” Miller said.

Where is the condemnation for the IDF using Palestinians as human shields and setting up military bases in hospitals and schools. Whatever Israel accuses anyone of is merely and admission of what they do. The human shield theory has long ago been debunked as nothing more than declaring any civilians inside an active battle zone as a human shield. However the tent massacre was outside an active battle zone, outside an evacuation area, so that doesn't even hold up. Nor is there any proof there were Hamas officials present among the dead.

Nothing but lies, the whole statement from start to finish.



US scolds Israel for ‘continued pattern of significant civilian harm’ in Gaza

Israel must do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza and should “remove all barriers to the flow of aid at scale through all crossings and routes”, the United States told the UN Security Council.

“The continued pattern of significant civilian harm resulting from incidents like Sunday’s air strikes undermines Israel’s strategic goals in Gaza,” Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the 15-member council.

Algeria on Tuesday put forward a draft UN resolution ordering Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive” in Rafah. On Wednesday, Wood told reporters Washington is reviewing it, but UN action is unlikely to be helpful or change the situation on the ground.

The US said on Tuesday that Israel’s actions in Rafah did not amount to a major ground operation that could change US policy towards Israel.

Say one thing, support the opposite, that's the US in practice



Gaza war could spark Middle East conflagration: UN envoy

Tor Wennesland told the UN Security Council the occupied West Bank “remains a pressure cooker of negative trends,” and there are continuing exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as between Syria and Israel around the Golan Heights.

The risk of “a regional conflagration” is mounting every day as the seven-month war on Gaza continues, the UN’s Middle East envoy warned.

“In addition to the deeply concerning escalation between Israel and Iran witnessed last month, aerial attacks toward Israel from militants in the region and Houthi attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea persisted. This is a combustible mix.”

Wennesland said nearly two million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced, many of them multiple times, and some 100,000 Israelis have been displaced in the country’s north and south.

“Agreement on a deal to achieve a ceasefire and secure the release of hostages is blocked, and as Israel rolls out a significant ground operation in and around Rafah the devastation is only intensifying. This trajectory must change if we are to avoid further catastrophe.”



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SvennoJ on 29 May 2024

More than 30 countries call for greater scrutiny of Israel’s role in destroying Gaza health system

The countries are backing a proposal at the World Health Organization’s annual assembly in Geneva that would require the agency to boost documentation of the “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” in Gaza and possible “starvation”, according to the Reuters news agency.

They also condemned ongoing Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza and appealed for more scrutiny of Israel’s role in the enclave’s health crisis. The WHO has recorded hundreds of attacks on health facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory since the beginning of the conflict began, but does not attribute blame.

Palestinian Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi urged countries to support the motion, saying: “We cannot allow Israel to destroy everything, to destroy health care facilities and to allow this to happen.”

A vote on the proposal is expected later today.

Brazil withdraws ambassador to Israel over war on Gaza

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva withdrew the country’s ambassador to Israel in the latest back-and-forth over the war on Gaza.

The move was announced in Brazil’s official gazette, although Israel’s foreign ministry said no official message has yet been received, according to The Associated Press.

Lula earlier this year compared Israel’s war to the Holocaust. In response, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned Brazil’s envoy for a public reprimand at the national Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.



EU’s foreign policy chief assures UNRWA head of full support

Josep Borrell says on X that he met today with Philippe Lazzarini of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), assuring him of the EU’s continued financial support to the agency, which was hit hard after donor states suspended funding to it earlier this year when Israel accused several of its staff members of participating in the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

“[EU member states] resumed their financial support. The next tranche of EU funding is on its way”, Borrell wrote.

Israel did present credible evidence to support its claims that UNRWA staff were members of “terrorist” groups, an independent review for the United Nations led by a former French foreign minister said in late April.

Borrell also said that the EU rejects “any attempt to label UNRWA as a terrorist organisation”, which the Israeli parliament, called the Knesset, moved to do two days ago.

“[UNRWA] remains an indispensable life line to Palestinians”, Borrell added.



Credible evidence? You mean faked evidence. Nothing turned up in the independent investigation. At least the EU restored funding. Don't be so gullible next time.

(I'm guessing it's a typo in the article as the link states "Israel has not presented credible evidence")



SvennoJ on 29 May 2024

Two paramedics killed in Israeli bombing of ambulance in Rafah: PRCS

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has now confirmed that two paramedics were killed in the attack in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan area. The PRCS said Israeli forces carried out a “direct bombing” of the ambulance, killing paramedics Haitham Tubasi and Suhail Hassouna.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on the incident.


Palestinian families sit in rubble of destroyed homes in Khan Younis





Bit drafty, no running water, no food, no sanitation, less flammable than a tent at least :/


Israeli drones open fire on fleeing Palestinians in Rafah

Rafah residents say Israeli tanks pushed into Tal as-Sultan in the west along with Yibna and near Shaboura in the centre of the southernmost Gaza city. They later retreated towards a buffer zone on the border with Egypt, rather than staying put as they have in other offensives.

“We received distress calls from residents in Tal as-Sultan where drones targeted displaced citizens as they moved from areas where they were staying toward the safe areas,” said Haitham al-Hams, deputy director of ambulance and emergency services in Rafah.

Health Minister Majed Abu Raman urged the United States to pressure Israel to open the Rafah crossing to aid, saying there was no indication Israeli authorities will do so soon and patients in besieged Gaza are dying from lack of treatment.



SvennoJ on 29 May 2024

Sounds familiar? Just like Al-Shifa hospital. The Hamas command structure was never found, the hospital however, completely demolished.

Israel using tunnel claims to ‘justify’ Rafah offensive

Israel is using claims of tunnels under Egypt’s border with Gaza as cover for its Rafah offensive, the state-linked Al-Qahera News reports, citing a “high-level Egyptian source”.

“There is no truth to Israeli media reports of the existence of tunnels on the Egyptian border with Gaza,” the source told Al-Qahera, which is linked to state intelligence.

“Israel is using these allegations to justify continuing the operation on the Palestinian city of Rafah and prolonging the war for political purposes.”

Al-Qahera News reported there are “no communications with the Israeli side” on the allegations of finding tunnels on the borders. Egypt has repeatedly expressed concerns the Israeli offensive could push Palestinians across the border – a scenario Egypt says is completely unacceptable.



They have been there in the past, but it's old news. Egypt took care of them and now there is a huge buffer zone

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/11/1218489546/tunnels-once-connected-egypt-and-gaza-heres-what-they-looked-like-10-years-ago

https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/10/22/floods-and-bombs-this-is-how-egypt-handled-hamas-smuggling-tunnels/

Just about a decade ago, Egypt faced a similar challenge to what Israel is going through now.
ISIS terrorists, who had infiltrated from Gaza, carried out deadly terror attacks in Sinai. They used the smuggling tunnels leading from the strip to Egypt, the economic anchor of Hamas. Estimates say that between 10-15% of the terror organization's budget came from taxes on goods that pass through the tunnels in Rafah as well as from issuing licenses, for an annual income of about one billion dollars.

As such, el-Sissi dealt a great blow to Hamas. Since his rise to power, approximately 1,900 tunnels have been destroyed.

Egypt did not hold back: the tunnels were shelled from the air, destroyed with controlled explosions on the ground, and flooded with sewage water or water pumped directly from the Mediterranean Sea. Some reports said even chemical substances were used, which, if true, turned the tunnels into death traps.


Some might have been restored, yet Egypt is as much focused on getting rid of the tunnels without the IDF's interference. Yet that won't stop the IDF from digging up some of the old tunnel entrances (that don't go anywhere anymore) to use as excuse for the Rafah invasion.



SvennoJ on 29 May 2024

More US lawmakers urge Biden to end support for Israel’s Gaza war

US President Joe Biden faces growing pressure domestically, including from members of his own Democratic Party, to stop providing unconditional backing for Israel as the country launches deadly attacks on Rafah and other parts of Gaza.

Democratic Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman is the latest to join a chorus of calls from Congress members to end US support for Israel’s war. “We are way past the red line,” she said on X. “We cannot continue supporting this. Nobody is safer because of this.”

US Senator Chris Van Hollen also told CNN that the US “can and should be using more leverage” with its top ally.

“The United States taxpayers have funded billions of dollars of weapons that have gone to the Netanyahu government, so it is time for the Biden administration to exercise more leverage to achieve the president’s own stated goals,” Van Hollen said.




Israel is fully planning to keep the war going for the rest of the year, while Eisenkot even talks about 3 to 5 years before retreating from Gaza. Biden only has until November to salvage his campaign and not let Trump ruin the USA further. He can't wait any longer, it's only getting worse the longer the US keeps supporting Israel.

 

Israel’s attack on Gaza: ‘Designated 2024 as a year of war’

A top Israeli official says Israel’s war on Gaza is likely to last through the end of the year – a grim prediction for a conflict that has killed tens of thousands, deepened Israel’s global isolation, and brought the region to the brink of a wider conflagration.

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told Kan public radio he’s “expecting another seven months of fighting” to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group.

“The army is achieving its objectives,” but it said from the start the “war will be long. They have designated 2024 as a year of war”.

Biden’s red lines for Israel ‘maybe simply don’t actually exist’

US political analyst Eli Clifton says the Biden administration’s continued support for Israel despite recent deadly attacks on Rafah raises a stark question about the American president’s Middle East policies.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Biden White House is either uninterested in enforcing any red lines on Israel, or that these red lines maybe simply don’t actually exist,” Clifton, a senior adviser at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Al Jazeera.

He added that there are two reasons underlying Biden’s stance.

“On the domestic political front, there is a fear of offending voters and donors, coming into what’s going to be a hotly contested American presidential election” in November, Clifton said.

“But there’s also the strategic reason that undergirds this and which is very consistent across administrations of doubling down on what is arguably a failed strategy of embracing the Israelis, embracing Netanyahu, closely – with the belief that by doing so, one can influence their decision-making.”

Israel’s defence chief threatens Lebanon with ‘harsh reality’

Israel’s army has killed 320 Hezbollah fighters since October 8 in cross-border attacks, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says.

He made the claim during a televised news conference following an “operational assessment” of the Northern Command. Gallant accused Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah of dragging Lebanon into a “harsh reality”.

“The ones who will pay the price are the residents of Lebanon and Hezbollah forces,” said Gallant, showing images purportedly of dead Hezbollah fighters.

Lebanon is the alternative in case a ceasefire somehow is forced. Netanyahu can only stay in power by continuing the state of war. The actual harsh reality is that Hezbollah is fully capable of defending itself and striking anywhere in Israel.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/lebanons-hezbollah-what-weapons-does-it-have-2023-10-30/



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SvennoJ on 29 May 2024

Demonstrators demanding return of captives block road in Tel Aviv

Israeli media reports and social media posts show the crowd of people entering blocking a highway, demanding progress from the Israeli government on a deal with Hamas to bring back Israeli captives held in Gaza.

Negotiations have been stalled for months as Hamas and Israeli officials trade blame for a deal failing to materialise. Israeli media reports said that talks were to begin again in Cairo today, however, a Hamas official said that “we do not need new negotiations,” adding that the group has already agreed to a ceasefire proposal that Israel rejected.

The footage shows protesters blocking a road and holding up a huge banner that reads: “Kidnapped alive are left to die”.


‘Genocidal anti-Palestinian racist’: CAIR condemns Nikki Haley scrawl on Israeli bomb

The Council on American-Islamic Relations did not mince words in its condemnation of Haley, a former US ambassador to the UN and defunct Republican presidential candidate, after she visited Israel and wrote on an artillery shell destined for Gaza, “Finish them”.

“Only a genocidal anti-Palestinian racist could sign ‘finish them’ on the same type of artillery shells that the Israeli government has used to slaughter innocent Palestinians for months,” CAIR director of government affairs Robert McCaw said in a statement.

Amnesty International USA also condemned Haley’s action, a photo of which has widely circulated on social media.

“Conflict is no place for stunts. Conflict has rules. Civilians must be protected,” the organisation wrote on X.

Violence further escalating in the West Bank

Israeli military says two killed in car ramming near Nablus

The vehicle attack occurred near an illegal Israeli settlement outside of the occupied West Bank city. The military later told the AFP news agency that “two Israeli citizens were killed”. A manhunt is under way after the attacker escaped the scene.

Israeli army and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank have killed more than 500 Palestinians since October 7 when the war on Gaza began. Hamas welcomed the attack near Nablus, saying in a statement it was a “natural response” against the “crimes of the enemy”.

It's going to be another bloody night of raids and destruction.



SvennoJ on 29 May 2024

The latest news in video form

Biden’s ‘Red Line’ Was a Lie: U.S. Sponsored Massacre in Rafah

 

Blinken, Nikki Haley shame humanity with their support for Israel in Rafah

Israel-Gaza War: Norman Finkelstein Accuses Former ICJ President Of 'Shameless And Shameful' Lies



Israel CAUGHT Hacking, Threatening Top ICC Prosecutors

 

‘All eyes on Rafah’ AI-image goes viral on social media



SvennoJ on 29 May 2024

As expected

Israeli forces conduct raids across the occupied West Bank

Local media is reporting widespread Israeli raids in several locations across the occupied West Bank. They include:

  • The cities of el-Bireh and Ramallah, where tear gas has been fired amid confrontations with Palestinians
  • The eastern area of ​​the city of Nablus
  • The city of Tulkarem, where armed clashes have been reported
  • The city of Tubas, where armed clashes have been reported
  • The town of Beit Ummar and the Arroub camp, north of Hebron
  • The village of Husan, west of Bethlehem, resulting in confrontations with Palestinians
  • The village of Kafr Qalil, south of Nablus
  • Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones south of Bethlehem

https://x.com/qudsn/status/1795966689311424916

Translation: Confrontations between young men and occupation forces in the vicinity of the al-Manara Roundabout in the centre of Ramallah.

US nurse awarded for her compassion fired for calling Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide

A Palestinian American nurse in New York City has been fired after calling Israel’s war on Gaza a “genocide”. Hesen Jabr made the remarks during a speech after she was honoured by NYU Langone Health for her compassion in caring for mothers who had lost babies.

Jabr, who said that Palestinian mothers are experiencing unimaginable loss “during the current genocide in Gaza” in the May 7 speech, was fired when she reported for her next work shift.

She was told by NYU Langone Health officials that she had “‘put others at risk’ and ‘ruined the ceremony’ and ‘offended people’”, according to an Instagram post from Jabr.

An NYU Langone spokesperson said that Jabr had been previously warned about raising the “divisive and charged issue” at work.



The US has become a huge disappointment, never recovered from 9/11, it's been downhill ever since.

It was far from perfect before 2001, 9/11 was the result of prior 'meddling' and arrogance, yet things were sort of moving in the right direction. Instead of dealing with 9/11 in a healing manor, the US started the war on terrorism and made a mess of it. An infinite war without end goals, no victory condition, just more deaths, more hatred, more paranoia, more dehumanization, more fear. The US has always been addicted to using fear to control the people and with terrorism they found a self sustaining way to create more fear.

Long gone are the days of



He had his missteps as well, but Bush, Trump, Biden, what a disaster. (Obama wasn't great either)



SvennoJ on 30 May 2024

Gaza medics face ‘overwhelming disaster’ as supplies dwindle: WHO

Dr Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative in Palestine, said vital medical supplies are fast running out in Gaza’s remaining hospitals as border crossings remain shut due to Israel’s ground assault on Rafah.

“There are 60 WHO trucks standing in El Arish [in Egypt] ready to get into Gaza. So again, this plea: The Rafah crossing needs to be opened not just for medical supplies, but for all other humanitarian supplies,” Peeperkorn said.

“We have distributed an enormous amount of essential emergency medical supplies, but it’s not enough. This is such an overwhelming disaster,” he said.

“When there would be a sustained ceasefire, and there would be entry routes into Gaza which are properly managed. When there is a deconfliction mechanism which actually facilitates and supports, much more is possible,” he added.

No supplies, hospitals to treat burn victims in Gaza

Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for Palestine, said the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt means that Palestinians who suffered burns during the Israeli attack on their tent camp earlier this week are unable to access the specialist burns and trauma care and medicines that they need.

“You can only do so much in Gaza. And when it comes to really extensive burns, et cetera, there’s no place currently in Gaza where that can be treated,” he said.

According to the UN, some 75 people who were wounded in the attack are receiving treatment at the International Medical Corps (IMC) field hospital in southern Gaza, with 25 of them in very critical condition.

Peeperkorn said since the closing of the Rafah crossing in the first week of May, the WHO has only had three trucks of supplies enter the southern city – through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Gaza and Israel.

He insisted that the perilous lack of lifesaving aid supplies could be reversed if trucks carrying humanitarian aid were allowed back into Gaza in significant numbers by Israeli authorities.


Palestinian boy Ahmed Abu Athab, who was wounded in an Israeli attack, receives treatment at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 28

Can you even imagine, critical burns, no painkillers, no way to treat them. Likely to die of sepsis sooner or later.


Israeli quadcopter drones targeting civilians in Rafah’s ‘safe areas’

Haitham al-Hams, deputy director of ambulance and emergency services in Rafah, said Israeli quadcopters are attacking residents of Rafah city who have remained despite it now being the main focus of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

“We are receiving numerous calls for help from citizens as quadcopters are targeting displaced people in these areas where they are staying – even in the safe areas,” al-Hams told Al Jazeera.

“The difficulty for ambulances to reach those areas is great due to the targeting of the emergency teams,” he said.

“Yesterday, a car belonging to the civil defence was struck,” he added.

Human rights groups reported in February that Israeli forces were increasingly using electronic-controlled quadcopters – fitted with machine guns and missiles – for killing and injuring Palestinians.

Measuring around one meter in diameter, quadcopters were previously used by Israel for intelligence gathering and are highly manoeuvrable. As well as bombing and shooting, quadcopters can be modified to become “suicide drones”, rights groups say.


An Israeli quadcopter drone flying over Palestinian demonstrations in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in 2018

 



SvennoJ on 30 May 2024

UNRWA instructed to vacate Jerusalem premises within 30 days: Report

The Israel Land Authority has instructed the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) to vacate its headquarters in the Ma’alot Dafna area of occupied East Jerusalem within 30 days, the Times of Israel reports.

The eviction order follows a request from Israel’s Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf to remove UNRWA from any Israeli-controlled land it is occupying, as pressure from Israeli authorities mounts on the UN agency.

In a letter to UNRWA, the Israel Land Authority also claimed that the UN agency owes them 27,125,280 shekels (about $7.3m) for operating on Israeli land without permission for seven years.

Israel accused several UNRWA staff members of participating in the October 7 attacks in southern Israel – a claim it provided no solid evidence to support and which was dismissed by an independent review of the allegations.

The UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem has suffered repeated attacks in recent months by Israelis, including arson and vandalism.


Israeli right-wing activists hold up banners during a demonstration demanding the immediate removal of the UNRWA headquarters in occupied Jerusalem on February 5

 

Over 50 UN experts demand sanctions, arms embargo on Israel

The group of experts issued the call for “decisive international action” after expressing outrage at the Israeli attack that killed at least 45 Palestinians sheltering in a makeshift tent camp in Rafah.

“Harrowing images of destruction, displacement and death have emerged from Rafah, including infants torn apart and people burnt alive,” the UN experts said.

“Reports emerging from the ground indicate that the strikes were indiscriminate and disproportionate, with people trapped inside burning plastic tents, leading to a horrific casualty toll.”

These “barbaric” attacks constitute a grave breach of the laws of war, the experts said, expressing deep frustration at the international community’s failure to stop Israel’s assault on Gaza.

The experts called for an independent probe into the attack on Rafah, as well as immediate sanctions and an arms embargo against Israel.

“The agony of Gaza’s people must end now,” they said.



China’s Xi to call for ‘common voice’ on Gaza in meeting with Arab leaders

Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to address Arab leaders and diplomats at a forum in Beijing today, during which he will call for the adoption of a “common voice” on the conflict in Gaza.

The French news agency AFP reports that China is hosting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and several other Arab leaders for a forum in Beijing where Israel’s war on Gaza is expected to feature prominently.

Meeting el-Sisi on Wednesday, Xi said he was “deeply pained” by the “extremely severe” situation in Gaza. “The top priority task now is an immediate ceasefire, in order to avoid spillover of conflict, impact on regional peace and stability, and … to prevent a more serious humanitarian crisis,” he said.

China is ready to work with Egypt to “push for an early, comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue”, he added.


Chinese President Xi Jinping applauds during a signing ceremony with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on May 29