Three Chinese citizens were killed in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian armed Islamist movement Hamas, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.
“We have confirmation that three Chinese nationals were killed during the clashes. Two are missing and several others are injured,” Wang Wenbin, a ministry spokesperson, said at a regular press briefing.
“We pay deep tribute to those who died and express our sincere sympathy to the families of the victims as well as the injured,” he said.
“Relevant Chinese diplomatic missions abroad are making considerable efforts to coordinate the rescue and treatment of the injured, and to make arrangements for those who died.”
The spokesperson also called on all parties to “take effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese organizations and nationals.”
Israel, where American Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a visit, continued its shelling of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, promising to “destroy” Hamas, on the sixth day of the war triggered by the bloody offensive of the Islamist movement .
In Israel, more than 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, according to the Israeli army. On the Palestinian side, 1,200 people also died, according to a latest report from the Gaza authorities.
Chinese diplomacy, which earlier this year facilitated the spectacular rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, regularly claims to want to make its contribution to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which has been at a standstill since 2014.