China’s Xi Jinping pledges UNRWA funding in Gaza aid package at Arab leader summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and promised more humanitarian aid for people in Gaza as he opened a summit with leaders of Arab states Thursday in Beijing.

The summit, attended by heads of state from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Tunisia among others, was set to focus on China’s expanding trade ties and on security concerns related to the war in Gaza between Israel and the terror group Hamas.

War erupted on October 7, when thousands of terrorists led by Hamas burst into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages.

“Since last October, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has escalated drastically, throwing people into tremendous suffering,” Xi said in a speech opening the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum. “War should not continue indefinitely.”

The Chinese leader called for an international peace conference for resolving the Israel-Hamas war and pledged 500 million yuan ($69 million) in humanitarian aid for Gaza.

He also promised to donate $3 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the body responsible for much of the social services in Gaza.

From left in front row, China’s Politburo Standing Committee member Cai Qi, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, China’s President Xi Jinping, Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a family photo ahead of the opening ceremony of the 10th Ministerial Meeting of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing May 30, 2024. (Jade Gao/Pool Photo via AP)

The United States and Germany, UNRWA’s two biggest donors by far, froze their contributions to the agency in January along with a host of other western nations following allegations from Israel that some UNRWA staff members were affiliated with Hamas and other terror groups.

Germany announced it would resume its contributions to UNRWA last week. A number of other nations that froze their funding, including Italy, Spain, Australia, and Japan, have also restored it.

An independent review group of UNRWA, led by French former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality-related issues” but said Israel had yet to provide evidence for its allegation of widespread links to Hamas and other terror groups.

Beijing has long backed Palestinians and denounced Israel over its settlements in the West Bank.

It has not criticized the Hamas attack of October 7, and has vetoed calls for a ceasefire at the UN that make a pause in fighting contingent on Hamas’s releasing hostages. Last month, the country hosted representatives from Hamas and rival Palestinian faction Fatah for reconciliation efforts.

However, China has growing economic ties with Israel.

China’s President Xi Jinping, left, shakes hands with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi ahead of the opening ceremony of the 10th Ministerial Meeting of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing Thursday, May 30, 2024. (Jade Gao/Pool Photo via AP)

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who spoke at the opening ceremony, praised China for supporting an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Sissi called on the international community to “stop any attempt at forcing Palestinians to forcibly flee their land.” Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and signed a historic peace deal with Israel in 1978, has kept its border mostly closed to Gazans fleeing the conflict.

Sissi also called on the world to “immediately provide for long term humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip and to end the Israeli siege.”

The comments came four days after aid from Egypt began entering Gaza again through Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing, under pressure from the United States.

The Arab nation had been blocking the passage of aid trucks through its own border with Gaza after Israeli forces moved into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, adjoining it.

Israel said Wednesday it had gained “operational control” over the strategic Philadelphi corridor along that border, which had served as a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 35,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though only some 24,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals. The toll, which cannot be verified, includes some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

It is believed that 121 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive.