China slams US for blocking Gaza ceasefire resolution at UN Security Council
China’s top UN envoy says US veto has ‘shattered the Gazan people’s hope for survival’ as war rages on in Palestinian enclave
“The repeated use of veto by the United States has reduced the authority of the Security Council and international law to an all-time low,” he said.
The senior Chinese diplomat also slammed the US for having “shattered the Gazan people’s hope for survival and pushed them further into darkness and desperation”.
“Now, nearly 44,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and the US still does not hesitate to use its veto,” Fu said.
“This is not just a number. Behind it could be a child, a nursing mother, or a breadwinner of a family.”
A day earlier, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran had collectively called for “an immediate end” to Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon during a meeting of the three nations in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh.
Meanwhile, fighting and strife persist in the Middle East.
The Israeli military bombed at least five crowded homes in northern Gaza early on Thursday, leading to many casualties, according to local health officials.
Israel said on Wednesday that one of its commandos was killed during a battle in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Wednesday that his group had given feedback on a US truce proposal. The leader of the Lebanese armed group and political party added that a deal to halt hostilities now depended on Israel’s response and the seriousness of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, Hamas’ acting Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said in an interview televised on Wednesday that there would be no hostages-for-prisoners swap deal with Israel without an end to the war in the Palestinian enclave.
Explaining the country’s veto at the Security Council meeting, US deputy ambassador Robert Wood said Washington “could not support an unconditional ceasefire that failed to release the hostages”.
He said that a “durable” end to the war must come with the release of the hostages, stating that the two goals were “inextricably linked”.
“Simply put, this resolution would have sent a dangerous message to Hamas: there’s no need to come back to the negotiating table,” he said, adding that there were still seven American citizens in the hands of the group.
Fu pushed back against those comments, saying that “all hostages must be released. An immediate and unconditional ceasefire must be established. Both are important.”
“There should be no preconditions attached, and the two things should not be linked to each other.”
He warned that in the future, people would find it hard to “believe” or “understand” America’s move and would “surely feel indignant”.
“It is never too late to recognise and correct the mistakes. We call on the US to take its responsibilities as a permanent member of the council seriously, stop being passive and evasive, and stop the deliberate procrastination,” Fu added.
China and Russia in March vetoed a US-drafted ceasefire resolution linked to a hostage deal, which Beijing described as “very unbalanced”.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the US, characterised the latest draft resolution as “a road map to more terror, more suffering and more bloodshed”.
In a social media post on Wednesday, he also thanked the US for vetoing the resolution, adding that “we will continue the fight until all the hostages are released”.
Majed Bamya, the Palestinian deputy permanent observer to the UN, said that a ceasefire “doesn’t resolve everything, but it is the first step to resolving anything”.