The China International Development Cooperation Agency has voiced deep concern over the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip, calling on the international community to ensure safe delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
The agency said on Saturday that China is preparing to send its third aid shipment to Gaza.
Beijing has already delivered two shipments of emergency aid to the region.
“China strongly urges the international community to make active efforts to ensure the aid is delivered safely and smoothly to the people of Gaza.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser Ma Xinmin recently told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the armed struggle of the Palestinians to gain independence from foreign and colonial rule was “legitimate” and “well-founded” in international law.
“In pursuit of the right to self-determination, Palestinian people’s use of force to resist foreign oppression and complete the establishment of an independent state is (an) inalienable right well founded in international law,” he said.
People struggling for self-determination could use “all available means, including armed struggle,” the Chinese official said.
Israel is currently being tried before the ICJ on charges of committing the crime of “genocide” against the Palestinians in Gaza.
The top UN court is holding a fourth day of hearings on Israel’s decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories. Representatives from several countries have addressed the Hague-based court.
The tribunal is holding a week of public hearings following a request from the UN, with 52 countries presenting their arguments on the issue of a nonbinding opinion on the legal consequences of the occupation.
The ongoing hearings are related to a case brought by the UN General Assembly following a resolution in December 2022.
Since the Israeli occupation of Palestine in June 1967, the regime has perpetrated a raft of crimes, including killing, displacement, kidnapping and torture of the Palestinians and demolition of their homes.
Only since early October 2023, Israel has killed nearly 30,000 people, mostly women and children, in Gaza.