Two biggest powers must work towards ending Gaza crisis
- Thousands have perished as Israeli forces target Hamas militants behind the deadly October 7 assault, and with ceasefire calls coming to nothing, China and the US have to step up
Flags flew at half-mast outside United Nations offices earlier this week as the world body held a moment of silence to remember at least 101 employees killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s devastating military response to the deadly October 7 incursion by Hamas militants.
UN Geneva Director General Tatiana Valovaya said on Monday that it was the “highest number of aid workers killed in the history of our organisation in such a short time”. The UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) has about 5,000 staff.
Many, who were refugees themselves, died queuing for bread or sheltering at home with their families. China said it was “shocked” by the deaths and foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Tuesday called for the agency’s workers to be “effectively protected”.
Journalists have also been killed in Gaza. At least 42 reporters and media workers were confirmed dead as of Tuesday, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Media and aid agencies had already been pulling out staff for their safety, leaving the world with a far from complete picture of what is happening. The details available are horrifying.
About two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been left homeless and at least 11,000 are dead. More than 40 per cent of the deaths and injuries are among children.
Medical workers have been using the grim acronym WCNSF to describe “wounded child, no surviving family” in their care.
Israeli forces have mounted air strikes followed by fierce street battles. They said they were targeting Hamas fighters in retaliation for the militant group’s cross-border assault on southern Israel, where at least 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage.
Troops who have reached the centre of the enclave have surrounded Gaza City’s main hospital, which doctors say is sheltering civilians and patients, including newborns who have been dying because of a lack of fuel to run life-sustaining equipment. However, Israel believes Hamas has a command centre in tunnels under the al-Shifa Hospital and uses it to conceal military operations.
Hamas denies the claims.
With global calls for a ceasefire unlikely to be heeded by the combatants, the United States and China may be the only nations able to exert enough pressure to end the bloodshed.
President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden were expected to focus on stabilising bilateral relations when they met on the sidelines of the Apec summit in San Francisco.
The leaders of the world’s two largest economies also had a chance to demonstrate global leadership by discussing Gaza and taking concrete steps towards resolving the crisis.
