China offers to work with Egypt to end Israel-Gaza conflict

Name: Terrifying moments as Israeli woman taken hostage by Hamas militants
Uploaded: 2023-10-11T07:45:46.000Z
Duration: 3 min 24 s
Description: Terrifying moments as Israeli woman taken hostage by Hamas militants

Special envoy for Middle East affairs reiterates China’s position for two-state solution and concern about civilian casualties to Egyptian assistant minister

Beijing has refrained from taking sides in disputes in the Middle East, portraying itself as a friend to both Israel and Palestine

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Israeli military vehicles are shown in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on Sunday. On Tuesday, China’s special envoy to the Middle East offered to work with Egypt to help mediate an end to the crisis. Photo: Xinhua

Alyssa Chen

Published: 3:45pm, 11 Oct 2023Updated: 11:54pm, 19 Oct 2023

China’s Middle East envoy says Beijing is willing to coordinate with Egypt to reach an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict and avoid worsening the region’s humanitarian crisis in his first remarks since Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday.

China’s special envoy for Middle East affairs Zhai Jun spoke to Osama Khedr, the assistant minister of the Palestine department in Egypt’s foreign ministry, in a phone call on Tuesday.

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Terrifying moments as Israeli woman taken hostage by Hamas militants

The conversation came after Israel on Monday pledged a “complete siege” of Gaza. By Wednesday, the most recent escalation of the decades-old conflict had claimed more than 2,000 Israeli and Palestinian lives.

According to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry, Zhai reiterated China’s long-time position of advocating the two-state solution, and expressed deep concern about civilian casualties in the conflict.

“China is willing to maintain communication and coordination with Egypt, and to promote an immediate ceasefire and cessation of violence between the conflicting parties,” Zhai said.

He said China was willing to provide humanitarian support to the Palestinian people in an attempt to stem the humanitarian crisis.