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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan condemned Israel’s ongoing military offensive against the Palestinians and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) heads of state meeting in China this week, the Pakistani foreign office said on Friday, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirming his support for the next phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Israeli troops have lately been operating in parts of Gaza City as they plan to take over all of the most populous Palestinian city that is home to around a million people many of whom have already been displaced multiple times.

On Thursday, Israeli strikes killed 28 people as the death toll from Israel’s two-year war rose to 64,000, according to Palestinian health officials. Last month, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system said Gaza City was officially in famine, with around 514,000 people experiencing it.

Pakistan, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, has consistently condemned Israel’s war on Gaza, called for an uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Palestinian territory and the establishment of an independent, sovereign and contiguous

Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“At the SCO CHS summit, the Prime Minister Sharif presented Pakistan’s perspective on pressing regional and global issues, highlighting strategies to strengthen SCO’s role in fostering regional cooperation and stability,” Shafqat Ali Khan, a Pakistani foreign office spokesman, said at a weekly press briefing in Islamabad.

“The prime minister unequivocally denounced Israel’s inhuman military offensive against Gaza and called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”

The foreign office spokesman said PM Sharif, during his visit to China to attend the SCO summit, held meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, and appreciated Beijing’s support to Pakistan’s socio-economic development.

“He lauded the significance of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as a flagship project of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, and reaffirmed the desire to continue working closely with China for the successful implementation of the next phase of upgraded CPEC with its five new corridors,” Khan said.

“This would help both countries to build an even stronger Pakistan-China community with a shared future.”

China is a key strategic ally of Pakistan, with Beijing pouring in tens of billions in energy and infrastructure development projects in the South Asian country under CPEC.

The second phase of CPEC focuses on growth, livelihood and innovation, and reinforcement of Pakistan’s national development framework centered on ‘5 Es,’ representing exports, e-Pakistan, energy, environment and equity.

On Thursday, both countries also signed 21 memorandums of understanding and joint ventures worth $4.2 billion to enhance business-to-business (B2B) cooperation in diverse areas, Pakistani state media reported.

KASUR, Pakistan: Sitting on the edge of her bed at a school playground-turned-relief camp, Rubina Bibi’s voice trembled as she contemplated what would come next. 

Floodwaters that swept through her village in Punjab’s Kasur district destroyed her home. Now, she wonders where her family will go once the waters recede and the camp closes.

The 40-year-old’s family is among dozens sheltering in a government-run school in Kasur, some 15 kilometers from the flooded villages along the Sutlej river near Pakistan’s border with India. They live under makeshift tents and plastic sheets, alongside neighbors who, like them, have lost everything.

“We have lost everything, our home and belongings. The greatest worry is what will happen after the water recedes and we have to leave this camp? Where will we go,” she said.

“Nowadays the world feels so cruel, and we cannot bear the thought of our daughters living outside in the open.”

Punjab, which produces much of Pakistan’s wheat and rice and is home to half of the country’s 240 million people, has suffered the worst damage in this year’s monsoon season. Officials in the province reported that 49 people have died in the ongoing Ravi–Sutlej–Chenab flood wave, bringing Punjab’s monsoon death toll since mid-June to 183.

Nearly 3.9 million people have been affected and 3,900 villages submerged while authorities have shifted over 1.8 million residents to safer areas.

Across Pakistan, rain and flood-related incidents have killed 884 people since the start of the monsoon on June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

In Kasur’s Ganda Singh Wala area, close to the Indian border, floodwaters alone submerged 148 villages and destroyed crops on 70,000 acres, according to the district administration.

Authorities said they had evacuated nearly 76,000 people from the district.

STRUGGLES IN RELIEF CAMPS

At the District Public School camp in Kasur, about 350 people from 80 families have lived in temporary shelters for more than two weeks. Aid has trickled in, but uncertainty weighs heavily on the families.

“Our children need clothes as they have only one suit to wear and are roaming around in tattered shoes,” Rubina said, appealing to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif to provide them with a permanent roof.

Nearby, Aisha Bibi, a young flood survivor, voiced the same fears: 

“We are very worried that once this camp is closed after the floodwater recedes, where we will go. It has become a great anxiety and depression for us affecting our mental health.”

Local officials acknowledge the scale of the psychological and social trauma. 

“These people are scared that they have to go back so consoling them for now is the biggest challenge,” said Sherina Junejo, an additional deputy commissioner in Kasur. “We are very hopeful that things are going to get better and they are going to go back to their homes and get settled.”

Junejo said the administration was striving to meet the hygiene and health needs of women at the camp to help families retain some dignity. 

“Hygiene kits are in place, sanitary napkins are in place and [we are] providing them with a fresh set of clothes and other relevant female hygiene items,” she said.

Authorities have also provided antenatal care for pregnant women, with a hospital set up in the female wing of the camp staffed by women doctors and attendants round the clock. 

“So, if something like that (medical emergency) were to occur, God forbid, we are equipped to address it,” Junejo added.

Mehrish Arshad, a nurse at the makeshift hospital, said diarrhea, fever, sore throats and related ailments were the main illnesses among children. 

“We received about 100 hygiene kits and we have provided them to all the ladies,” she said, noting that the camp currently had sufficient medical supplies.

Kasur Deputy Commissioner Imran Ali said damage assessment teams had already been formed by Punjab’s Communications and Works Department. 

“As the water recedes, we will be able to understand which structures got damaged to which extent and will be compensated accordingly,” he said.