BEIJING: China will continue to work hard to promote early and proper settlement of the Palestinian issue, its foreign ministry quoted China's special envoy for Middle East affairs as saying on Friday.
China is deeply concerned about the heightened conflict that Israel has with the Palestinians and Lebanon, and calls for maximum calm and restraint from all sides, especially Israel, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on the Middle East Zhai Jun said when meeting Middle East envoys in Beijing.
Israeli warplanes bombed several military sites belonging to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups in different areas of the Gaza Strip overnight into Friday morning in response to what it said were Hamas missiles fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli towns in recent days..
The bombardment also targeted agricultural and open areas, in addition to watchtowers on the eastern border.
During the bombing, Palestinian factions fired shells toward Israeli towns, most of which were intercepted by the Israeli air defense system Iron Dome.
* With Reuters
