New Delhi: A staff member of the Israeli embassy in Beijing was attacked on Friday and has been hospitalised.
The embassy employee was attacked early afternoon (China time) in Beijing “not too far” from the Israeli embassy premises and is in hospital, a senior Israeli official at the Beijing embassy told IANS, without providing details.
The Israeli embassy in Beijing is located close to the Indian embassy in a high-security area of the city due to the presence of diplomatic missions.
The identity of the Israeli embassy employee was not made public and the reason behind the reported stabbing remained unclear at the time of filing this report.
The attack happened on the day when Muslims across the Middle East, after their Friday prayers, are protesting Israel’s airstrikes on and expected ground offensive in Gaza.
Israel had criticized China for not condemning the Hamas attacks on Israel last Saturday when hundreds of Israelis were killed on a single day and at least 150 people, including children and the elderly, were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip that is ruled by the Palestine militant outfit, whom Israel describes as terrorists, as does the US.
Following the Hamas attacks, China released a statement calling for a “two-state solution” to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and more recently expressed concern about the mounting civilian casualties. China has also called for an immediate cease fire.
Three Chinese nationals were killed, two were missing and several wounded after the weekend Hamas attacks.
Israel has asked more than 1 million civilians in Gaza, half of the population there, to evacuate from the enclave’s north before it launches its ground offensive to clear Hamas operations there.
The Israeli death toll from the Hamas attacks was more than 1,300, and the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s retaliatory strikes was upwards of 1,500, as of Friday early evening (India time).
The Israel-Hamas war is expected to continue for weeks at least.
(IANS)
