Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 17 (Xinhua News Agency) Foreign correspondents report: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict entered its second week on the 17th, causing a large number of innocent casualties, including women and children.
In the past few days, the international community has expressed serious concern about the situation in Gaza and the increase in the number of civilian casualties, and called on the conflicting parties to immediately cease hostilities.
Palestinian security sources said on the 17th that Israeli warplanes launched a large-scale bombing of the southern Gaza Strip in the early hours of the same day.
According to Israeli media reports, the target of the bombing was a tunnel network of armed forces in the Gaza Strip in the south.
The spokesperson of the Gaza Strip Health Department Ashraf Zidra said on the 17th that the Israeli bombing from the 10th has killed at least 198 people in Palestine, including 58 children and 35 women, and injured 1,300 others.
UN Secretary-General Guterres delivered a speech at an emergency public meeting of the Security Council on the Palestine-Israel conflict on the 16th, urging the conflicting parties to immediately stop hostilities.
Guterres said that the recent conflict between Palestine and Israel is the most serious escalation in recent years. The conflict may drag Palestine and Israel into a vicious circle of violence, bringing disastrous consequences to both peoples and the entire region.
He emphasized that returning to negotiations is the only way out.
Zhang Jun, the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, and the Permanent Representatives of Norway and Tunisia to the United Nations met with reporters after the emergency public meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and made a joint statement on the current situation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The representatives of the three countries expressed serious concern about the situation in Gaza and the increase in civilian casualties, and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, full compliance with international law including international humanitarian law, and protection of civilians.
The representatives of the three countries reiterated their support for the negotiation of a "two-state solution" in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and international law.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) based in Beirut, Lebanon, on the 16th condemned the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that caused civilian deaths and injuries, and urged the parties to the conflict to cease fire immediately.
Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ahmed Nasser Mohamed Al-Sabah said on the 16th that Kuwait strongly condemned Israel’s attacks on the occupied Palestinian territories and civilians, and condemned Israel’s construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. He also reiterated that only by following the "two-state solution" can the Palestinian-Israeli issue be resolved in a permanent, comprehensive and just manner.
The Irish capital Dublin and other places held demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine on the 15th.
Irish Foreign Minister Covinni said on social media that the conflict resulted in the death of many children, which is unacceptable. Ireland will speak at the UN Security Council and hold relevant personnel accountable.
The center-left "We Can" party of the Spanish coalition government condemned the violence in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the parliament on the 15th and urged Israel to stop "direct strikes" against Palestinian civilians.
Demonstrations across Lebanon in solidarity with the Palestinian people and protests against Israeli atrocities entered the third day on the 16th.
During the demonstration, one Lebanese was shot and killed by the Israeli army, and several others were injured.
(Reporters involved: Xiong Sihao, Zhang Qi, Liu Zongya, Xie Yuzhi, Feng Junwei, Wang Wei, Nie Yunpeng, Shang Xuqian)