Smoke and flame rising during Israeli air strikes, as cross-border violence between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants continues, in Gaza City on Friday — Reuters BEIJING, May 16 (AP/Reuters): Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on the U.N. Security Council to seek an early de-escalation of violence between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers. He also blamed the U.S. for the council's lack of action so far.
"Regrettably, the council has so far failed to reach an agreement, with the United States standing on the opposite side of international justice," the state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang as saying in a phone conversation Saturday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
He expressed support for a two-state solution, and said China, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, expects all parties to speak with a unified voice when the council discusses the conflict later Sunday.
Wang said the Security Council should reconfirm a two-state solution and urge Palestinians and Israelis to resume talks on that basis as soon as possible.
Israel pummelled Gaza with air strikes and Palestinian militants launched rockets at Tel Aviv and other cities on Saturday, with no sign yet of an end to their worst escalation since 2014.
A 12-storey Gaza tower block housing the offices of the US-based Associated Press and Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera as well as other offices and apartments collapsed on Saturday after being struck by Israeli missiles.
The owner of the building had been warned in advance of an impending Israeli missile strike, a Reuters reporter said, and the building had been evacuated. No injuries were reported.
An AP journalist, who asked not to be named, confirmed that the building had been destroyed and said all their staff were safe but in shock.
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