PM Modi condemns civilian deaths in Israel-Hamar war, urges dialogue, diplomacy

NEW DELHI: Condemning the mounting civilian deaths in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said new challenges are emerging from the events in West Asia.

Reiterating India’s condemnation of the Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7, PM Modi also highlighted that New Delhi has also sent humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine.

In his opening address at the Voice of Global South Summit earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Modi said, “For global prosperity, ‘sabka saath’ and ‘sabka vikas’ is parmount. We all are seeing that new challenges are emerging from the events in the West Asia region”. “India has condemned the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7. We have laid emphasis on exercising restraint, dialogue and diplomacy”, he added.

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PM Modi said that India has also sent humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine. “We also strongly condemn the deaths of civilians in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. After talking to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, we have also sent humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine”, he added. “This is the time when the countries of the Global South should unite for the greater global good”, Prime Minister Modi stated.

The Second Voice of Global South Summit is taking place in a virtual mode. The Second Voice of the Global South Summit will focus on sharing with countries of the Global South the key outcomes achieved in various G20 meetings over the course of India’s presidency.

The challenges posed by global developments are also likely to be discussed. Further, the summit will serve as a platform to discuss ways to sustain the momentum generated towards our common aspiration of a more inclusive, representative and progressive world order.

Recently, Israel President Isaac Herzog said India advocates peace and can definitely pursue the voice of reason, security for Israel and peace for the region. Herzog described India as “a very important nation in the world” and “one of the greatest countries on Earth”.

“India is a very important nation in the world and it was my true honour to speak at the joint session of US Congress in Washington in July, just a few weeks after PM Modi spoke. We believe India advocates peace and is a very impressive country, one of the greatest on earth and India can definitely pursue the voice of reason, security for Israel and peace for the region,” the Israel President said.

Asked if India can play a role to mediate or moderate the conflict, the Israel President talked about the need to rebuild Gaza as a peaceful place and noted that there can then be talk about true dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians and India has a lot to contribute to these ideas.

“I don’t know, I’m not sure but I say that the day after, part of the issue will be how do we rebuild Gaza again and how we make sure that Gaza is a safe haven and a peaceful place and then we can speak about doing business with the Mediterranean and having Israelis and Palestinians have a true dialogue. India has a lot to contribute to all these ideas,” he said.

Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon had last month urged New Delhi to designate Hamas as a terror organisation in India as well. He stated that both India and Israel have a “shared war” against terror and counter-terrorism is one of the areas where the countries align.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first global leaders to condemn the terror attack on Israel. India has said it sees the attack by Hamas on Israel as “a terrorist attack” and that it has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine that lives side by side at peace with Israel.

The conflict in Gaza escalated after the October 7 attack by Hamas, where about 2,500 terrorists breached the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, leading to casualties and the seizure of hostages. Israel has characterised its Gaza offensive as targeting Hamas’ infrastructure with the goal of eliminating the entire terror group while making efforts to minimize civilian casualties. (ANI)