Mr. President,

The repeatedly postponed Council vote today has received extensive attention by all over the past few days. In order to maximize consensus, the UAE delegation made tireless efforts and resubmitted their draft resolution late last night. We welcome the adoption of this draft resolution that was put to vote just now.

For reasons known to all, this draft resolution has made quite a number of adjustments in some of the important aspects, and these adjustments are not consistent with the efforts we made and do not meet our expectations. At the same time, given the urgency of the situation on the ground and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that is getting more dire by the day. The Council’s present action offers at least a glimmer of hope for more and faster delivery of humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Of course, whether this glimmer of hope can be truly felt by the people of Gaza in the midst of this disaster also depends on whether the resolution can be effectively implemented and whether the relevant provisions of the resolution can be carried out without compromise.

We expect urgent actions to be taken pursuant to this Council resolution to expand humanitarian assistance to Gaza including by making full use of the Kerem Shalom crossing and the opening of additional crossings to ensure the safe and unimpeded entry of sufficient humanitarian supplies into Gaza.

We hope that the monitoring mechanism established in the resolution will be put in place as soon as possible. We look forward to Secretary-General’s timely reporting to the Council on the implementation of this resolution. The Council should stand ready to take further actions at any time to resolve the problems and difficulties encountered in the implementation of the resolution.

The resolution reaffirms that all parties to the conflict should comply with the obligations under international law including international humanitarian law we urge Israel to immediately reverse course, cease indiscriminate military attacks, and stop its collective punishment of the population of Gaza. As the occupying power, Israel has an obligation to safeguard the humanitarian needs of the population of Gaza and to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers in Gaza.

Mr. President,

It should be noted that the realization of a ceasefire remains the overriding prerequisite. Only a ceasefire can prevent greater casualties of civilians, including hostages. Only a ceasefire can prevent a regional conflict from spiraling out of control. And only a ceasefire can prevent the prospect for a political settlement from being completely destroyed. This is the reason why we voted in favor of Russia’s amendment. We also regret that this amendment was vetoed. Going forward. China would like to work with all Council members to promote further responsible and meaningful action by the Council in a timely manner and to continue to make unremitting efforts to bring an end to the fighting in Gaza, to effectively implement the two-State solution, and to realize peace and stability in the Middle East at an early date.

I thank you, Mr. President.