ISTANBUL

On the 76th anniversary of Nakba Day, China on Wednesday urged the international community to put an end to Israel's ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, saying every bombing of Palestinian refugee camps "is a prick of human conscience."

“How much longer will the humanitarian crisis in Gaza be allowed to go on? When will the Palestinian people be freed from their excruciating suffering?" Vice Foreign Minister Hu Chunying said in a statement on X.

The statement commemorates the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their homes and lands in 1948 to make way for Israel's creation.

Recalling that more than half of the Palestinian population was expelled from their homes 76 years ago, Chunying said: "76 years on, an even greater injustice is being done to them."

Separately, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the situation for Palestinians who were driven out of their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and moved to Gaza has “further worsened” now.

“Today’s Gaza Strip is left in ruins and rubble. Those wounded and ill cannot receive timely treatment, those hungry cannot obtain basic necessities, and those escaping from the disaster have nowhere to go,” Wang told reporters in Beijing.

He said, “People cannot help but ask, for how long will the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza drag on and when will the Palestinian people be able to see an end to their suffering?”

Opposing the expansion of Israeli operations into Rafah, he said China “opposes collective punishment on the people in Gaza.”

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, which killed 1,200 people.

More than 35,200 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and over 79,100 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.