US still failing to fulfil its duty of care to Palestinians

Pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously on Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people and wounding several thousand, officials said. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote-controlled attack.

Israel said on Tuesday that halting Hezbollah's attacks in the country's north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal, as it considers a wider military operation in Lebanon.

And Israeli air strikes killed 16 people on Monday in the Gaza Strip, including five women and four children. Last week, a UN convoy supporting the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza approved by Israel was forcibly detained for nearly eight hours, during which shots were fired. Also last week, six employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East were killed in an air strike.

Although Washington accuses Israel's military of striking schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza and warns Tel Aviv against a war with Hezbollah, the United States, which acts as a mediator in Gaza cease-fire talks, has never stopped rushing military and financial assistance to Israel since the conflict with Hamas began on Oct 7.

Gaza's health ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since then. The conflict has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90 percent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million.

Despite the four resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council related to Gaza, the International Court of Justice orders on provisional measures, and the huge efforts of the UN and other humanitarian agencies, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has been constantly worsening, and violations of international law, in particular international humanitarian law, have persisted nonstop.

China strongly condemns such appalling attacks on humanitarian agencies and personnel, which are unacceptable. The US is obliged to urge Israel to fulfill its obligations under international humanitarian law by putting lives and humanity first, immediately lift the blockade, open all crossings, end the restrictions on humanitarian deliveries, cease and desist from attacking UN and other humanitarian agencies, and provide safe and unimpeded access to the operations of those agencies.

The US needs to shoulder its responsibility and use the significant influence it holds over Israel to push the latter to cease its military operations without delay, as demanded by the UN Security Council resolutions.

As China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, said, had the US not stood in the way, the UN Security Council could have adopted a resolution demanding a cease-fire early on after the conflict erupted, and had the US not shielded Israel time and again, multiple resolutions of the UN Security Council would not have been flagrantly rejected and defied.