Israel's action in Gaza now beyond self-defence: Chinese foreign minister

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that Israel’s military actions in Gaza have gone “beyond the scope of self-defence”. Wang Yi also said Israeli government must “cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza".

The Chinese foreign minister's remarks came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call with him, seeking Beijing’s cooperation in preventing the Israel-Hamas conflict from further escalating.

A statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Yi made these comments on a call to his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhad on Saturday.

"All parties should not take any action to escalate the situation and should return to the negotiating table as soon as possible," Wang Yi reportedly told the Saudi Foreign Minister.

As per Chinese medai reports, Chinese envoy Zhai Jun will visit the Middle East next week to push for a ceasefire and peace talks to end the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The Chinese Foreign Minister earlier said the correct way to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict was to advance the "two-state solution" and resume peace talks as quickly as possible. 

Earlier this week, Beijing had advocated for establishing an independent State of Palestine.

The Foreign Ministry further called on "relevant parties to remain calm, exercise restraint and immediately end the hostilities to protect civilians and avoid further deterioration of the situation".

Earlier, Israel had expressed "deep disappointment" over Beijing's "lack of clear condemnation" of the Hamas attack on Israel. The Israeli Embassy in Beijing has stated that China's stand was "inconsistent with and untrue to the tragedies and fears that have occurred in the past few days."