Interview: China plays important role in mediating peace, providing aid for Gaza, says UNRWA official

Humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza provided by the Chinese government wait for loading in Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)

"China has consistently called for a cease-fire, and this is very important. China has also supported the agency, has made a note of the fact that there has been misinformation and disinformation against the agency, which we really appreciate, because the agency has been called out and attacked for quite some time."

RAMALLAH, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- China has played a "very important role" in peace efforts and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of the Gaza Strip, a United Nations (UN) official has said.

"I would like to thank China for its strong support to UNRWA and to the humanitarian sector in the Middle East," said Antonia Marie De Meo, deputy commissioner-general for Operational Support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), during a recent interview with Xinhua in Ramallah.

Last week, China donated 3 million U.S. dollars to UNRWA to support its emergency humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

De Meo said China's new donation will provide financial support to UNRWA, and it will go to the people of Gaza.

"It will go to the staff and to the healthcare sector in order to be able to provide lifesaving medicines and assistance to the people of Gaza. So the financial support from China is very important," she said.

With the outbreak of the war in Gaza last October, some 154 UNRWA facilities including schools, training centers, warehouses and health centers were transformed into emergency shelters for displaced people, UNRWA said in a press release in August.

Thousands of UNRWA staff, who themselves have been displaced multiple times, and over 200 of whom have been killed, continue to deliver critical services at the agency's health centers that remain operational, it added.

Apart from financial support, De Meo added, political support from China is also very important.

"China has consistently called for a cease-fire, and this is very important. China has also supported the agency, has made a note of the fact that there has been misinformation and disinformation against the agency, which we really appreciate, because the agency has been called out and attacked for quite some time," she said.

In late July, Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN, said in remarks at a UN Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East that UNRWA is the mainstay of humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

China is firmly opposed to attempts to attack and discredit UNRWA and hamper the work of UNRWA's mandate implementation, he said.

During the interview, De Meo told Xinhua that she would like to commend China for the role it has played in the Beijing Declaration and being able to bring Palestinian factions together to discuss a potential cease-fire.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attends the closing ceremony of a reconciliation dialogue among Palestinian factions and witnesses the signing of a declaration on ending division and strengthening unity by 14 Palestinian factions, in Beijing, capital of China, July 23, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

At the invitation of the Chinese side, high-level representatives of 14 Palestinian factions held a reconciliation dialogue in Beijing from July 21 to 23 and inked the Beijing Declaration on Ending Division and Strengthening Palestinian National Unity, which many consider would create precious hope for peace and stability in the Middle East.

"This part of China's political leadership role in calling for a cease-fire and actually making that a reality by hosting the Beijing Declaration" is important, De Meo said.