On August 11, 2025, Professor Liu Zhongmin of the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University was interviewed by Global Times onIsraeli Occupation of Gaza and its Implications, the full text of which is below:
Israel's plan to take over Gaza slammed as risking calamity as killing, destructions continue
The UN Security Council (UNSC) held an emergency meeting on Israel's plan for its security forces to take control of Gaza City, according to the UN's website, following the approval of the Israeli security cabinet's plan to take over Gaza City on August 8. Despite the US' constant support for Israel, China, Russia, and an increasing number of countries have publicly condemned Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Analysts said on Monday that Israel's military plan for Gaza seriously threatens the foundation of peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, namely the two-State solution. Additionally, the deteriorating living conditions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the escalating humanitarian crisis are subjecting Israel to growing diplomatic and public opinion pressure.
At the UNSC emergency meeting held on Sunday local time, Fu Cong, Chinese ambassador to the UN, said the conflict in Gaza is an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, warning that the situation continues to develop in an even more dangerous direction.
Fu put forward four musts on resolving the conflict: Israel's attempt to occupy Gaza must be firmly opposed; the fallacy of believing in the primacy of force must be abandoned; the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza must be alleviated; and the prospect of the two-state solution must be revived.
Fu said China is concerned with Israel's security cabinet approval of a plan to take over Gaza City and urges Israel to immediately stop such dangerous actions. Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory. Any attempt to alter the population or territorial structure of Gaza must be resolutely rejected, Fu said.
Growing criticism, but still no US
Besides China, Israel's military plan was criticized by multiple countries, including those regarded as allies in the West.
The UK, Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia issued a joint statement asking Israel to urgently reverse this decision and not to implement the plan, saying it violates international law, Al Jazeera reported.
In a separate statement, Spain, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal and Slovenia warned that Israel seizing Gaza would be a major obstacle to implementing the two-state solution, the only path toward a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.
Germany said it could not actively support Israel's plan to expand military operations in Gaza and displace of Palestinians.
Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, told ambassadors to UN on Sunday that if Israel's plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction - compounding the unbearable suffering of the population, according to the UN website.
Earlier on August 9, the ministerial committee mandated by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Gaza, along with 23 countries, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, on Saturday jointly voiced strong condemnation and categorical rejection of Israel's intention to impose full military control over Gaza, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The plan to seize Gaza City has also drawn criticism at home, with opposition leader Yair Lapid calling it a politically motivated disaster that endangers lives and undermines Israel's security, according to Anadolu Ajansi's report on August 8.
Israel's Gaza plan seeks to undermine the Palestinian Authority's effective control over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by maintaining a prolonged occupation of Gaza City, thereby impeding the establishment of a Palestinian State, Liu Zhongmin, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times on Monday.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday announced that his country will move to formally recognize a state of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly next month, in unison with France, the UK and Canada.
On the other hand, Wang Jin, an associate professor at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at Northwest University in Xi'an, believes that in the medium to long term, the Palestinian Authority is poised to secure broader international recognition, which will bolster the global consensus on the Palestinian- Israeli issue and reinforce principled support for the two-State solution.
Among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the US continues to endorse Israel alone.
Dorothy Shea, the US envoy to the UN, said UN members have taken advantage of today's meeting to accuse Israel of genocide, an allegation she insists is demonstrably false, the BBC reported.
Turning to the US, Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said Washington is washing its hands and giving Israel carte blanche to have full freedom of action in Gaza. How many more Palestinians need to die before this inhuman slaughter ends? Polyanskiy asked, the BBC reported.
While the US aims to alleviate its strategic burdens in the Middle East and capitalize on the region's strategic benefits, its permissive approach toward Israel negatively impacts efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Wang said.
There are increasing divisions between Europe and the US on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the US approach would significantly damage its international reputation, Liu said.
More attacks, more calls
Citing Israeli prime minister's office, Reuters reported Sunday that Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Donald Trump about Israel's offensive plans to take control of the remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza to bring an end to the war by securing the release of the hostages and defeating Hamas.
Netanyahu also thanked Trump for his strong support for Israel since the beginning of the war, the office said in a statement, per Xinhua.
Before talking with Trump, Netanyahu said on Sunday the military had been ordered to enter the decisive stage of the Gaza war, aimed at seizing the remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza City, refugee camps in central Gaza and the southern area of Al Mawasi.
Over the past two years, Israel's strikes have significantly weakened Hamas, pushing the group into an increasingly precarious position. Nevertheless, the popular support for Hamas' resistance remains, underscoring the immense challenge Israel faces in fully eliminating Hamas, according to Liu, who added that a prolonged Israeli occupation of Gaza and gradual annexation of the West Bank could inadvertently bolster Hamas' societal base.
Meanwhile, casualties are increasing as the military offensive progresses. Medics say Israeli forces have killed at least 52 other Palestinians in attacks across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, says Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera on Monday also confirmed that its journalist Anas al-Sharif was killed alongside four colleagues in a targeted Israeli strike on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City. The media network said that it condemns in the strongest terms the targeted assassination of its correspondents.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later said it had killed Anas al-Sharif in Gaza City in a strike, claiming that he was affiliated with Hamas, according to Xinhua. However, in a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists, which in July urged the international community to protect al-Sharif, said Israel had provided no evidence to support its allegations against him, Reuters reported.
The media office in Gaza has said that the deliberate killing of five Al Jazeera employees has brought the total number of journalists killed by Israel since the war began to 237.
Asked to comment on the Israel's operation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday that we mourn for the correspondents who tragically lost their lives in the conflict.
China opposes all moves that harm civilians and condemn violent moves targeting correspondents. China urges Israel to stop its military operation in Gaza at once, fully resume access to humanitarian supplies, avoid humanitarian crisis of a greater scale, and cool down the situation as soon as possible, the spokesperson said.
While the international community has applied considerable diplomatic and public pressure on Israel, the current outcomes suggest that further concerted efforts are required to achieve more meaningful changes, Wang said.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Monday that children in Gaza are dying from starvation and bombardments. Entire families, neighborhoods, and a generation are being wiped out, UNRWA added in an X post.
At least 217 people have died from starvation in the Gaza Strip, as Israel's punishing siege continues, according to Al Jazeera.
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday warned that Israel's plan to expand military operations in Gaza is deeply worrying, given the already dire humanitarian and health situation across the Strip.
In an X post, he said that further military escalation could put more children at risk due to malnutrition and lack of access to health care.
On Sunday, at least five more people died of famine and malnutrition, according to Gaza's health authorities. The death toll in Gaza from Israeli military operations since the war started has risen to at least 61,430, according to Xinhua.
Source: Global Times
(The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author or the interviewee, and do not represent the position of this research institution)
