Chinese envoy urges full implementation of Gaza ceasefire

China calls on all parties, Israel in particular, to fully implement the ceasefire agreement and achieve a genuine and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, a Chinese envoy to the United Nations said on Monday.

"History has repeatedly shown that security is indivisible. No country can build its own security on the insecurity of others. Military occupation and pressure can never bring lasting peace," said Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, at a UN Security Council briefing to review Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and the situation in Gaza.

Israel must fulfill its obligations under international humanitarian law as the occupying power, lift restrictions on humanitarian access, and support and facilitate the delivery of assistance by humanitarian agencies, including UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), he said.

Fu also noted that tensions in the West Bank must be de-escalated and the two-state solution is the only viable path to resolving the question of Palestine.

The international community should build greater consensus and reinvigorate the prospects for the two-state solution, reject any attempts to alter the demographic composition or territorial status of Palestine, oppose all unilateral actions that undermine the foundations of the two-state solution, and support the early establishment of an independent state of Palestine based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and enjoying full sovereignty, said Fu.

"We call on all parties to place the well-being of the Palestinian people and peace and stability in the Middle East above all else, and to work together for the early realization of a comprehensive, just, and lasting solution to the question of Palestine. China remains committed to making unremitting efforts toward that end," said Fu.