China aid agency says 'highly concerned' over Gaza situation

ANKARA

China International Development Cooperation Agency on Saturday expressed high concerns over the Gaza situation and said Beijing is preparing to send its third aid shipment to the region.

In response to Western media hype of China "standing by" a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, the aid agency said Beijing has already delivered two shipments of emergency aid to the region.

"China strongly urges the international community to make active efforts to ensure the aid is delivered safely and smoothly to the people of Gaza," the state-run daily Global Times citing the aid agency said.

On Thursday, China's representative to the International Court of Justice told the court that the Palestinians’ use of armed struggle to gain independence from foreign and colonial rule was “legitimate” and “well-founded” in international law.

“In pursuit of the right to self-determination, Palestinian people’s use of force to resist foreign oppression and complete the establishment of an independent state is (an) inalienable right well founded in international law,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser Ma Xinmin told the court in The Hague in the Netherlands.

For the first time since its establishment in 1948, Israel is currently being tried before the ICJ, the highest judicial body in the UN, on charges of committing the crime of "genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel's practices and policies of "oppression have severely undermined and impeded the exercise and full realization of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination," said the envoy.

* Writing by Islamuddin Sajid