Chinese envoy urges Israel to stop using Gaza humanitarian assistance as bargaining chip

UNITED NATIONS - A Chinese envoy on Tuesday urged Israel to lift the restrictions on humanitarian access in Gaza and stop using humanitarian assistance as a bargaining chip, as the already dire humanitarian situation there is rapidly deteriorating.

Addressing the UN Security Council briefing on the food security issue in Gaza, Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said that humanitarian issues cannot be politicized, nor can hunger be weaponized. "This is the fundamental bottom line of international humanitarian law."

"However, during the conflict in Gaza, which has been ongoing for 13 months, civilians have been repeatedly deprived of their basic needs, and all humanitarian bottom lines have been breached time and again," he said.

The biggest challenge in scaling up humanitarian assistance "does not lie in the shortage of humanitarian supplies, but lies in the man-made restrictions on humanitarian access," said Fu, calling on Israel to immediately open all crossings and effectively remove obstacles to humanitarian access throughout Gaza.

"Israel is restricting humanitarian access on the one hand, and accusing the UN and the humanitarian agencies of inaction on the other. This is unacceptable," the ambassador said, calling for Israel's full cooperation with the UN and other humanitarian agencies.

He said that what is most lacking in conducting humanitarian assistance is not the material supplies or other policy conditions, but the political will of a key party, adding that the recent completion of the polio vaccination supported by the World Health Organization in Gaza has once again demonstrated that it is possible to expand humanitarian assistance.

"The key to the issue is that Israel, as the occupying power, must fulfill its obligations under international law and should not be permitted to use humanitarian assistance as a bargaining chip," the ambassador noted.

Underscoring that an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and an early implementation of the two-State solution is a fundamental path towards ending the conflict and restoring peace, he urged Israel to stop its military actions in Gaza and its violations against Lebanon and other countries.