Envoy calls for prevention of further humanitarian catastrophe

A Chinese envoy urged the global community to act now to avert a more severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

"The international community must take actions to protect civilians, save lives, and make every effort to prevent an even greater humanitarian disaster," Dai Bing, charge d'affaires of China's permanent mission to the United Nations, said on Tuesday at the UN Security Council briefing on the food security risks in Gaza.

Dai said Gaza has sunk into an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe since the conflict's outbreak more than four months ago, with nearly 30,000 civilians having already lost their lives. "Millions of people in Gaza are suffering the pain of losing their loved ones or still unable to find safe shelter after multiple times of forced displacement," he said.

"They lack the most basic safety guarantees and supplies for survival and are constantly faced with the threat of death, hunger, and disease. Even more so, women and children are living in fear and desperation every single day."

He said events in Gaza severely violate international law and international humanitarian law and go beyond the bottom line of human morality and conscience.

The envoy stressed that humanitarian assistance is what the people in Gaza rely on for hope of survival.

Xinhua