China’s foreign minister has told his Israeli counterpart that all countries have a right to self-defence, but they must protect civilians and abide by international law, Beijing said Tuesday. Wang Yi made the comments in a call on Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, the first between them since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly who were shot or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials. Israel says around 1,500 Hamas fighters were killed in clashes before its army regained control of the area under attack. More than 5,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed across the Gaza Strip in relentless Israeli bombardments in retaliation for the attacks, according to the latest toll from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. In his talks with Cohen, Wang said China was deeply concerned about the “ongoing escalation of the conflict”. “All countries have the right to self-defence, but they should abide by international humanitarian law and protect the safety of civilians,” Wang said. “The most pressing task now is to prevent the situation from escalating further and from leading to a more serious humanitarian disaster.” Wang had already said on October 14 that Israel’s actions had gone “beyond the scope of self defence” and called then for Israel to stop its “collective punishment” of people in Gaza.