BEIJING, (PIC)
China and Pakistan called on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to an ongoing Israeli war since October 7 last year.
This came in a joint statement issued by the two countries following an official visit paid by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to China between June 4 and 8.
The statement stressed that the decision taken by the UN Security Council to cease fire in Gaza is “binding” and must be implemented “immediately”.
The joint statement stressed that “the main way out of the crisis is the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”
The statement also called on the international community to “exert greater efforts to reach an urgent solution to the Palestinian issue,” stressing the need to work towards continuing peace talks between Israel and Palestine “in order to achieve lasting peace.”
The Palestinian-Israeli negotiations have been stalled since 2014, following Tel Aviv’s refusal to stop settlement construction in the West Bank, its disavowal of the principle of the “two-state solution” and its refusal to release a batch of veteran Palestinian prisoners.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a brutal aggression against the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring more than 120,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, in addition to about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has recently killed a number of children and the elderly.
