As the Palestinian-Israeli conflict continues, UN agencies have been bombed, resulting in 9 dead and 75 wounded, and the United States has made a "rare" move, with its guns already aimed at Israel, publicly condemning it, and China has once again made its position clear.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, on January 24, local time, the United Nations said on the same day that a large United Nations facility in the Gaza Strip for refugees was attacked and caught fire, causing a large number of casualties. The head of Gaza at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Mr. White, said two tank shells hit a building in the centre where about 800 displaced people were taking refuge at the time of the incident. At least nine people were killed and 75 injured as a result of the attack.
This attack has once again aroused strong concern in the international community, and it is not the first time that a United Nations agency has been attacked. In response to the attack, UNRWA Commissioner-General Lazzarini noted that the United Nations agency that had been shelled had been clearly marked as a United Nations facility and had shared its coordinates with the Israeli authorities, but that the attack had been carried out in another blatant disregard for the basic rules of war.
U.S. State Department spokesman Patel said, "We regret the attack on the United Nations Khan Younis Training Center, civilians must be protected, the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected, and humanitarian workers must be protected so that they can continue to provide the life-saving humanitarian assistance that civilians need." ”
Although the US condemnation did not name names, the guns were already aimed at Israel, and it is not difficult to see Israel's reaction after the US side issued a statement of condemnation that Israel is still somewhat "seated in the right seat." In its initial statement, the Israeli military described the wider Khan Younis area as a base for Hamas militants and acknowledged that the fighting was taking place near a large number of civilians. After the United States issued a public condemnation, the IDF issued a second statement denying responsibility for the incident, claiming that the attack on the facility had been ruled out "for now" as "the result of an IDF airstrike or shelling." At the same time, the Israeli side also deliberately pointed the finger at Hamas, stressing that the Israeli army is "investigating the possibility that the attack was caused by Hamas's fire." To some extent, Israel's ambiguous statement is more like "there are no three hundred taels of silver here."
In response to the attack on the UN agency, at the regular press conference of the Chinese Foreign Ministry on the 25th, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China was shocked by the fact that the United Nations facilities in the Gaza Strip were attacked again, and deeply saddened by the civilian casualties caused by the attack. We condemn all acts of harm to civilians and oppose all violations of international law.
At the same time, Wang Wenbin pointed out that a ceasefire is the overriding issue at present, and China urges the parties to the conflict to earnestly implement the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, immediately and comprehensively cease the fighting, and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe on a larger scale.
It is undeniable that the severity of the current humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip is evident from the frequent attacks on United Nations agencies. Hours after the attack on the United Nations agency, UN staff were unable to reach the area where all communications had been cut off.
It is worth mentioning that just two days before the attack on the United Nations agency, the Israeli army was intensively bombing Khan Younis on the 22nd, killing at least 50 people and injuring 100 others. In addition to the bombardment, the Israeli Army continued to penetrate deep into the Khan Younis area.
According to statistics from the health department of the Gaza Strip on the 23rd, since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year, the Israeli army's military operations in the Gaza Strip have resulted in the death of more than 25,400 Palestinians and more than 63,000 injuries.
According to United Nations data, 1.9 million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, accounting for 85% of the total local population. In addition, the latest data from the United Nations World Food Programme shows that more than 500,000 people in the Gaza Strip face "catastrophic food insecurity" and the risk of famine is increasing by the day.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently warned that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are "facing inhumane and dirty conditions and struggling to get through the day without adequate shelter, heating, sanitation, food and drinking water."