China's role in aid, promoting peace in Gaza hailed

RAMALLAH — China has played a "very important role" in both the peace efforts and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of the Gaza Strip, a United Nations official has said.

"I would like to thank China for its strong support to UNRWA and to the humanitarian sector in the Middle East," said Antonia Marie De Meo, deputy commissioner-general for Operational Support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA.

Last week, China donated $3 million to UNRWA to support its emergency humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

De Meo said China's new donation will provide financial support to UNRWA, and it will go to the people of Gaza.

"It will go to the staff and to the healthcare sector in order to be able to provide lifesaving medicines and assistance to the people of Gaza. So the financial support from China is very important," she said.

With the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza last October, some 154 UNRWA facilities including schools, training centers, warehouses and health centers were transformed into emergency shelters for displaced people, UNRWA said in a news release this month.

Thousands of UNRWA staff, who themselves have been displaced multiple times, and more than 200 of whom have been killed, continue to deliver critical services at the agency's health centers that remain operational, it added.

Apart from financial support, De Meo added that political support from China is also very important.

"China has consistently called for a cease-fire, and this is very important," she said.

During the interview, De Meo said that she would like to commend China for the role it has played in the Beijing Declaration and for being able to bring Palestinian factions together to discuss a potential cease-fire.

"This part of China's political leadership role in calling for a cease-fire and actually making that a reality by hosting the Beijing Declaration" is important, De Meo said.

Xinhua