China on Monday said the situation in the Gaza Strip was “extremely grave” and called for “a greater humanitarian aid effort” to cool down the tensions there as hundreds of people are trapped inside Gaza’s largest hospital at risk of dying due to the lack of electricity.
Thousands of people appear to have fled from the hospital as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants battle outside its gates, but hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies remained inside, health officials said Monday.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Shifa has been without water for three days and “is not functioning as a hospital anymore," in a post on social media.
During a news conference on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said "the difficulty facing Shifa hospital epitomizes the humanitarian crisis in the whole Gaza region.”
Mao urged both Israel and the militant group Hamas to “take substantive measures and make a greater effort” to protect civilians and ease the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory.
Israel said the hospital is the prime example of Hamas's alleged use of human shields, claiming — without evidence — that the militants have a command centre and other military infrastructure in and beneath the medical compound.
Hamas and hospital staff deny those allegations.
Mao also briefed journalists about the upcoming meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco later this week.
“The two presidents will have in-depth communication on issues of strategic, overarching and fundamental importance in shaping China-U.S. relations and the major issues concerning world peace and development,” Mao said.
Referring to the international community's response to the situation in Gaza, she urged the U.S. to be “objective and just and play a constructive role in ending hostilities as soon as possible.”
Biden and Xi were scheduled to meet on Wednesday for talks on trade, Taiwan and fraught U.S.-Chinese relations in the first engagement in a year between the leaders of the world's two biggest economies.
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