China’s UN envoy blasts Tel Aviv over killings of 100 sheltering Palestinians
China’s envoy to the United Nations on Aug 13 “strongly condemned” Israel’s attack on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City.
Three Israeli rockets struck the Al-Taba’een School on Aug 10, where many displaced Palestinians were seeking shelter and participating in dawn prayers. More than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens were injured in the assault, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
Israel said it targeted the school because Hamas fighters were sheltering there.
“China strongly condemns the assault,” Fu Cong, China’s permanent representative to the UN, told a Security Council meeting on Aug 13.
“Civilians and civilian infrastructure should never be targets of military action — this is a red line defined by international humanitarian law. The repeated attacks on schools, where large numbers of civilians seek refuge, are appalling,” said Fu.
He said that over the past 10 months, millions of people in Gaza have had their homes destroyed, and families have been torn apart, forcing them to move from place to place in search of safety, only to face bombings and the constant threat of death.
“There is no longer any safe haven in Gaza,” Fu said.
Three schools in Gaza City were hit within 48 hours between Aug 3 and Aug 4 and two schools on Aug 8, then Al-Taba’een on Aug 10, according to Lisa Doughten, director of the Financing and Partnerships Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The Aug 10 strike was one of the deadliest on a school sheltering displaced people since the conflict began, said Doughten.
Fu urged the United States, which is Israel’s “largest arms supplier”, to push its regional ally to halt its military operations in Gaza.
“An immediate and lasting ceasefire is the urgent hope of the people of Gaza and a strong consensus within the international community,” he said, noting that the UN Security Council two months ago passed its first cease-fire resolution, and the US said that Israel had accepted a cease-fire agreement.
“But the reality is quite the opposite. We have seen no credible signs of Israel committing to a cease-fire; instead, there is an escalation in military actions and rising civilian casualties,” Fu said.
“We urge the US to act with sincerity and responsibility, pushing Israel to halt its military operations in Gaza and end the killing of civilians as soon as possible,” he said.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said last week that it might be “justified and moral” to starve 2 million people in Gaza in order to free Israeli hostages.
Fu condemned the statement, calling it “horrifying” and “entirely unacceptable”. “Hunger should never be used as a weapon; humanitarian issues should not be politicized; and civilian lives should not be bargaining chips,” he said.
He urged Israel to fulfill “its international humanitarian obligations, open all border crossings, and ensure the rapid, large-scale, and safe delivery of humanitarian aid”.
