China says 'urgent' steps needed to ease Gaza crisis

Arab and Muslim leaders are turning to China to try and increase pressure on the U.S. and Israel to agree to a formal ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, and the Palestinian Authority are visiting Beijing on Monday and Tuesday.

Their goal is to build pressure outside the West to stop Israeli military operations and force renewed efforts to create an independent Palestinian state.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday the world must "act urgently" to calm the Israel-Hamas war as he hosted diplomats from Arab and Muslim-majority nations in Beijing.

The top priority is to fully implement the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and secure an immediate ceasefire, he said.

As the rotating chair of the UN Security Council, China is looking to build consensus and promote the Security Council to take further meaningful actions on the situation in Gaza, CGTN reported Wang saying.

Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and members of a delegation of foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries have a group photo in Beijing on November 20, 2023. Photo: AFP

Meanwhile, AFP reported Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia's top diplomat, saying that Riyadh was "seeking more cooperation with our friends in China" with a view to "working towards ending this crisis and this grave situation as quickly as possible".

The delegation urged the international community to take responsible actions and promote an immediate ceasefire, secure a full delivery of humanitarian aid materials to Gaza, protect Palestine's civilians, and prevent the forced relocation of Gaza residents.

Following the outbreak of the war last month, Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang, called for an immediate ceasefire and a "cooling down" of the situation.

China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinians and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas over the October 7 attacks that it says killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw 240 hostages taken in the worst-ever onslaught on the country.

The Hamas government in Gaza says at least 13,000 people have been killed in Israel's relentless aerial bombardment and ground operations, thousands of them children.