BEIJING, November 29. /TASS/. China insists on a complete and immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and hopes for the international community's coordinated actions to settle the conflict, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
"First and foremost, we must facilitate a ceasefire with the utmost urgency," he emphasized at a meeting on the Middle East at the UN Security Council. "Prolonging the fighting will only lead to more deaths and destruction in the Gaza Strip."
Wang Yi mentioned that an unresolved problem could spread to the entire region, with forceful methods being "not the way out." "Responding with violence to violence will only deepen hatred and increase antagonism," he added.
According to the Chinese Foreign Minister, Beijing hopes that the recent truce in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will not be a "respite before a new offensive" and that "diplomatic steps aimed at a complete ceasefire" will soon follow. "We call on all parties concerned to join efforts to achieve the common goal of ending hostilities in Gaza," he clarified.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank. The Hamas movement announced on November 22 that an agreement on a four-day humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip had been reached through the mediation of Qatar and Egypt. The agreement stipulates the release of 50 women and children under the age of 19 who are held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 150 women and children under the age of 19 from Israeli prisons. The Gaza ceasefire took effect at 5:00 a.m. GMT (7:00 a.m. local time) on November 24, when the first group of hostages was released. On November 27, the parties agreed to extend the truce for two more days under the same conditions. This means that three Palestinian prisoners will be released every day in exchange for each released Israeli hostage.