China Says ‘Deeply Shocked’ by Israel’s Massive Airstrikes on Refugee Camp in Gaza

Wednesday, 01 November 2023 6:57 PM 

Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin

China says it has been “deeply shocked” by a barrage of Israel’s airstrikes on a refugee camp in Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire before the regime's war machine claims more lives in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Dozens of Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia refugee camp on Wednesday, the second attack on the camp in less than 24 hours, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The report said airstrikes hit the residential area of Faluja in the camp, adding that several US-made bombs were used on the district, less than 24 hours after the first bombardment of the camp that leveled apartment buildings, leaving people, including children, buried in the rubble.

Jabalia is the largest of the Gaza Strip's UN refugee camps housing people forcibly expelled by Zionist militia and Israel in 1948. The area is reportedly home to nearly 120,000 people.

At a daily news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin strongly condemned the brutal attack, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

“China is deeply shocked by the attacks on the refugee camps in Gaza and strongly condemns this. China calls for utmost calm and restraint from relevant parties, especially Israel, and urges them to implement the UN resolution adopted on October 27, stop fighting immediately, do everything possible to protect civilians, open up corridors for humanitarian assistance as soon as possible and avert an even worse humanitarian disaster,” he said.

The Jabalia refugee camp in the northern part of the Gaza Strip is struck again, a day after an Israeli air attack that killed dozens and sparked widespread condemnation.

“China will play a positive and constructive role at the UN Security Council to help end the fighting, ensure the safety of civilians and strive for a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question at an early date,” Wang added.

Israeli warplanes, naval boats and artillery kept pounding Gaza on Wednesday, inflicting more casualties on the civilian population.

The civilian death toll in Gaza and desperate humanitarian conditions have caused great concern across the world as food, fuel, drinking water and medicine are running short.

On October 7, Israel launched a full-scale war on the impoverished Gaza Strip, where shortages of food, water, and medicine threaten the lives of Gazans and hospitals are overwhelmed amid incessant Israeli bombings.

The ceaseless airstrikes, missile attacks and shelling on Gaza have killed, as of Wednesday, 8,796 Palestinians, including 3,648 children and 2,290 women, and wounded at least 22,219 others, according to officials.

Around 2,000 people are still missing, including 1,100 children. The vast majority of these people are believed to be dead and buried under rubble.