Chinese overseas minister Wang Yi has advised Israel to stop its “forced establishment” of settlements in the West Bank and reverse its actions, his workplace said.
The “Palestinian question” is “the greatest historical injustice of this century”, Wang advised Israeli President Isaac Herzog in a face-to-face assembly on the sidelines of a convention in Azerbaijan on Thursday.
Beijing has been a longstanding supporter of the Palestinian cause and has maintained that a “two-state solution” is the “correct direction”.
It has also been positioning itself as a mediator for conflicts in the Middle East.
In 2023 Beijing brokered a deal to restore diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia after years of hostility. Earlier this 12 months, it was half of efforts, along with Pakistan, to suggest a ceasefire in the US-Israel struggle against Iran.
Beijing’s efforts to deal with the struggle in Gaza have centered on Palestinian unity.
In 2024 Beijing got rival Palestinian factions to agree to type an interim “national reconciliation government” for the occupied West Bank and Gaza after the struggle with Israel, although it was never carried out.
Now, Wang says the “immediate priority” is to absolutely open access to Gaza and stop the continued unfold of a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
China is keen to work with the worldwide group to get the events to return to dialogue and “seek a political solution to the conflict”, Wang said.
In a post on X, Herzog said he was “pleased” to meet Wang and their speak “focused on the relations between our countries and the situation in the Middle East”.
“I emphasised Israel’s desire for peace in the region, alongside the strategic threats to our security, first and foremost from Iran and its terror proxies,” he wrote.
China maintains close ties with Iran and is the greatest purchaser of Iranian oil, which had beforehand come under US sanctions because of Tehran’s nuclear programme.
One 12 months into the ceasefire, people in Gaza proceed to dwell under the common risk of Israeli strikes, displacement and food security challenges.
Although large-scale bombardment has stopped, Israel has continued strikes in Gaza virtually every day. More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes there in the 12 months since the ceasefire began in October 2025.
The US-brokered ceasefire was the first section of a deal to finish the struggle in Gaza, which had been triggered by a lethal Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
But progress into the deal’s next section has been stalled, with both Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the phrases of their settlement.
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