Three Chinese nationals have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, Beijing's foreign ministry said yesterday.
"To my understanding it has currently been confirmed that three Chinese nationals were unfortunately killed in the conflict," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters.
In addition, "two people are uncontactable and a number were injured."
"We express our deepest condolences for the dead, and express our sincere sympathies for the families of the dead and for those who were injured."
"China's relevant diplomatic organizations abroad are currently engaging in all-out efforts to coordinate the rescue and treatment of those injured, and making arrangements for those who died," he added.
Israel has launched a withering air campaign against Hamas militants in the blockaded Gaza Strip after the Islamists carried out a massive assault on Israel on Saturday that killed more than 1,200 people.
Around another 1,200 people have been killed in the Palestinian coastal enclave in Israeli airstrikes, Hamas officials revealed.
Earlier, Israel formed an emergency unity government on Wednesday as its jets pounded Gaza and tanks massed around the Palestinian enclave, and the army said it killed three Hamas militants in a fresh confrontation.
Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a centrist opposition leader, spoke live on Israeli television alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after forming a war Cabinet focused entirely on the conflict. "Our partnership is not political, it is a shared fate," said Gantz. "At this time we are all the soldiers of Israel."
US President Joe Biden, who has pledged Washington's support for Israel, despatched his top diplomat, Antony Blinken, to the region in a bid to avert a wider Middle East war.