In the case of the Israel/Palestine conflict, this was basically a terrorist group attacking Israel and now Israel retaliating over and above what should be considered acceptable.

In the case of Israel/Palestine the story is that the west stole the land from Palestinians and gave it to Israel which became an apartheid state with the support of the west. This is an excellent introduction to the history by Dr. Finkelstein who is an eminent scholar on the subject. Israel has been committing atrocities against Palestinians this whole time, and now it's committing an open genocide. Dr. Finkelstein gives an excellent answer regarding October 7 that I encourage you to watch.

So why wouldn’t China be more or at least just as vocal in calling for a cease fire and return to normality. Which was the basis of my original question.

China and many other countries have called for peace, and these were blocked by the west. In fact, Ukrainians themselves now admit that they were close to reaching a peace deal with Russia that the west sabotaged:

• https://archive.ph/LrOtO
• https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/05/09/ukrainian-news-outlet-suggests-uk-and-us-governments-are-primary-obstacles-to-peace/
• https://www.aaronmate.net/p/ukraines-top-negotiator-confirms
• here’s Arestovich saying it https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineRussiaReport/comments/1975okx/ua_pov_arestovich_in_english_says_he_and_the_rest/
• here’s another member of negotiating team confirming this https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/11/24/7430282/

The west is reason the war in Ukraine continues today. RAND even published a whole paper titled Extending Russia that explains the reasons for the war in detail.