China demanded an urgent ceasefire on Thursday, calling the fighting in Gaza a “disgrace to civilisation” as it entered its sixth month, despite efforts by mediators to bring about a truce.
In light of the crescent moon sighting, US President Joe Biden has encouraged Hamas to agree to a ceasefire arrangement with Israel before Ramadan begins, which may happen as early as Sunday.
However, the United Nations has issued a dire warning that starvation is imminent for Palestinians who are trapped by the conflict, and Egyptian mediators have found it difficult to overcome difficult barriers in their attempts to broker a ceasefire.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a press conference in Beijing, “It is a tragedy for humankind and a disgrace for civilisation that today, in the 21st century, this humanitarian disaster cannot be stopped.”
Since October 7, when Hamas assaulted Israeli settlements in retaliation for the latter’s strategy of taking Palestinian territory and establishing Israelis on it, China, which has long supported the Palestinian cause, has been asking for a truce.
“The international community must act urgently, making an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities an overriding priority, and ensuring humanitarian relief an urgent moral responsibility,” Wang stated.
The conflict has left much of Gaza, home to 2.4 million people, in a humanitarian crisis and reduced the region to a wasteland of destroyed structures and rubble.
Twenty individuals have passed away from starvation and dehydration in Gaza, the health ministry reported on Wednesday. At least half of the victims were youngsters.
The UN World Food Programme has warned that hunger in Gaza’s north has reached “catastrophic levels” due to the scant food that has reached the region.
“Children are dying of hunger-related diseases and suffering severe levels of malnutrition,” the World Food Program stated.
One of the most recent victims, according to Gaza’s health ministry, was a 15-year-old girl who passed away at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
According to Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the health ministry, “the famine in northern Gaza has reached lethal levels” and thousands of lives might be lost if Gaza doesn’t get additional humanitarian help and medical supplies.
Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians, the majority of whom are internally displaced due to the conflict, now reside in the southern city of Rafah, where Gazans were queuing to get sacks of flour outside a UN refugee agency office.
“There is insufficient flour provided by them,” stated Muhammad Abu Odeh, a displaced person. “They do not provide us with sugar or anything else except flour.”
Following Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the city center, hundreds of Palestinians rushed to examine their homes and retrieve whatever items they could in Khan Yunis, the biggest city in southern Gaza.
When the AFP asked the army to confirm such a pullout, they have not yet replied.
About 1,160 Israeli settlers lost their lives in the conflict, which started when Hamas retaliated against Israel’s expulsion of Palestinians from their historic territory. In order to negotiate the release of thousands of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, the resistance fighters also captured about 250 prisoners. Israel estimates that 31 of them have passed away and that 99 are still living in Gaza.
At least 30,717 Gazans have been murdered by Israel’s vicious counteroffensive, the majority of them were women and children.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has promised to continue the fight against Hamas regardless of whether a cease-fire is reached.
Regarding one well-known area of contention, Israel would not budge from its demand that Hamas submit a list of the captives it was still holding. Hamas maintains that it is unable to accomplish this duty as long as Israeli bombardment is ongoing.
However, Biden stated on Tuesday that “it’s in the hands of Hamas right now” in reference to the truce agreement mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt.
The White House stated the planned agreement would allow for “a surge of humanitarian assistance,” the “release of sick, wounded, elderly, and women hostages,” and a “at least six-week” stop to hostilities.
The Palestinian organization insisted on an end to all fighting and stated in a statement that it had “shown the required flexibility with the aim of reaching an agreement”.
The Al-Aqsa mosque complex, located in the annexated east Jerusalem and considered by Jews to be the Temple Mount, is the third-holiest place in Islam and has seen violent outbursts during Ramadan in the past.
As it does each year, Hamas has pushed Muslims to go there in large numbers, while certain far-right Israeli lawmakers have called for limitations.
According to Israel, Muslims would be permitted entry to the site “in similar numbers” at first as they have in previous years. A weekly “situation assessment” will thereafter take place.
Food has been airdropped into Gaza on many occasions by US, Jordanian, and other aircraft, although WFP deputy head Carl Skau stated that “airdrops are a last resort and will not avert famine.”
On Wednesday, South Africa filed a request with the International Court of Justice to impose more emergency restrictions on Israel due to what it called “widespread starvation” in Gaza.
Additionally, Israeli Prime Minister David Cameron put pressure on Israel on Wednesday to expand the amount of aid going into Gaza.
When thousands of people flocked relief trucks last week, there were reports of over 100 people slain in violent mayhem. Gaza officials claimed that Israeli gunfire was to blame for the deaths, while the army maintained that the majority had been ran over or trampled.
Later on Tuesday, “a large crowd of desperate people who looted the food” intercepted another truck convoy that Israeli military had diverted into Gaza, according to the WFP.
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