China's Permanent Representative to the UN has voiced a blistering response on Israel, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that a "public health catastrophe" is imminent in Gaza amid overcrowding, mass displacement and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure.

Israel said its forces attacked Hamas gunmen inside the Islamists' vast tunnel network beneath Gaza, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a halt to fighting to ease the humanitarian crisis.

This followed Monday's video release by Hamas that showed three hostages seized by the Islamist movement on October 7.

 

Israel accused of ignoring international community

Zhang Jun, China's Permanent Representative to the UN, stepped up his country's diplomatic efforts by calling for all parties to agree a "humanitarian truce" and "prevent further escalation of the situation."

But he told the UN General Assembly it was "regrettable and unacceptable that Israel has ignored the shared concerns of the international community by further escalating its military campaign against Gaza and formally announcing the launch of a ground offensive."

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Words of Wisdom

Zhang added: "Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world, a land that has been under a blockade for 16 years. Here, 2.3 million innocent civilians have been starved by indiscriminate bombing, and water, electricity, food and fuel supplies have been cut off for 21 days….If this situation is allowed to go on, it's going to get even more out of control. An even greater humanitarian catastrophe is inevitable." 

Zhang said China called on Israel and its U.S. backers to "fulfil its obligations under international humanitarian law by lifting the full blockade of Gaza, immediately opening an emergency evacuation, and urging the resumption of basic survival supplies as soon as possible, in order to prevent a humanitarian disaster on a larger scale."

He added: "Collective punishment of the civilian population will not bring about absolute security…If the war in Gaza is allowed to continue, it could turn into a military holocaust that would engulf the entire region."

Zhang called the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border west of the Jordan River "alarming." 

Humanitarian emergency

At a press conference on Tuesday the WHO and U.N. children's agency UNICEF warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration with just 5 percent of normal water supplies available. They added that 940 children were reported missing in Gaza.

 

Tunnel success

Israel said it was succeeding in attacking Hamas inside its tunnel network, a key objective for Israel as it expands ground operations inside Gaza to wipe out the ruling Islamist movement following its surprise attack three weeks ago that Israeli authorities say killed more than 1,400 people.

Militants responded with anti-tank missiles and machine gun fire, it added. "The soldiers killed terrorists and directed air forces to real-time strikes on targets and terror infrastructure," the IDF said.

Israeli armed forces also bombed Gaza overnight in air, sea and ground attacks, targeting northwestern areas of the Palestinian enclave where Israeli troops were operating on the ground, witnesses said on Tuesday.

Israeli air strikes on Monday night outside the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip caused a power cut and doctors said they feared for the lives of 250 injured Palestinians being treated there as fuel runs low.

Hostages speak

In a Hamas hostage video released on Monday, three women - identified by Netanyahu as Yelena Trupanob, Danielle Aloni and Rimon Kirsht - sat side by side against a bare wall, and Aloni addressed an angry message to the prime minister. 

Separately Israel said its forces freed a soldier from Hamas captivity, one of 239 hostages Israel says were captured on October 7 by Hamas gunmen. It identified her as Ori Megidish and said she had since undergone medical checks and is "doing well," the military said. It gave no details on the circumstances of her release.

Hamas has so far released four civilian hostages of the 239 taken, who are believed to be held in the tunnels.

Mounting death toll

Gaza health authorities say that 8,306 people, including 3,457 minors, have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7. U.N. officials say more than 1.4 million of Gaza's civilian population of about 2.3 million have been made homeless.

The mounting death toll has drawn calls from the U.S., Israel's top ally, other countries and the U.N. for a pause in fighting to allow more humanitarian aid to reach the enclave.

Netanyahu said late on Monday that Israel would not agree to a cessation of hostilities and would press ahead with its plans to wipe out Hamas. Significantly fewer humanitarian aid trucks than needed have reached the besieged enclave, U.N. officials said, and civil order has broken down with people storming U.N. warehouses in search of food. That has put four U.N. aid distribution centres and a storage facility out of action, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said on Monday.

Aid trucks have been trickling into Gaza from Egypt over the past week via Rafah, the main crossing that does not border Israel. It has become the main point of aid delivery since Israel imposed a "total siege" of Gaza. OCHA said 26 trucks entered the Rafah crossing on Monday.

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