India’s “longstanding and consistent” policy on Palestinian state remains unchanged, says MEA spokesperson

NEW DELHI (TIP): India reiterated its call for the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state on Thursday, October 12, with the Ministry of External Affairs saying that there was an “obligation” to uphold humanitarian principles.

“India always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine, living within secure and recognized borders, side by side at peace with Israel,” Mr. Arindam Bagchi said, emphasizing that India’s position on Palestine has been “longstanding and consistent” and that there has been no change in that policy.

Earlier in the day, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a round of meetings with Ministry officials to take stock of the situation.

Mr. Bagchi categorically stated that India considers last Saturday’s strike against Israel a “terrorist attack”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had condemned terrorism and expressed solidarity with the Israeli people following the attack by Hamas on Saturday.

The official spokesperson said that there was a “universal obligation” to observe humanitarian law, but also emphasized the requirement to fight against international terrorism. However, Mr. Bagchi did not give a clear answer to a journalist’s question on whether India considers Hamas a terror organization. Saying that such a determination was the responsibility of other departments, the MEA spokesperson said, “Our focus is to help our citizens.”

His comments were the first set of detailed remarks from the MEA about the situation in West Asia, since Saturday’s air, land and sea attack on Israel and its retaliatory air attack on the Gaza Strip.

“In the world of diplomacy, we are always engaged in conversation and contacts. Of course, we maintain close contacts with all relevant stakeholders at various levels,” Mr. Bagchi noted.

As the hostilities between Hamas and Israel entered the 7^th day, UN said that by late October 11, the number of displaced people in Gaza had risen by an additional 75,000 people from the figure given 24 hours earlier, reaching 3,38,934. “Mass displacement across the Gaza Strip continues,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement sent on October 12.

The announcement came as Israel pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip — a densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people — in response to the militants’ surprise Saturday attack. Israeli forces said 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the onslaught — the worst in the country’s history. In Gaza, officials reported more than 1,000 people have been killed in Israel’s sustained campaign of air and artillery strikes.

OCHA said nearly 2,20,000 people, or two-thirds of the displaced people, have sought shelter in schools run by the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. Another nearly 15,000 people fled to schools run by the Palestinian Authority, while more than 100,000 were being sheltered by relatives, neighbours and a church and other facilities in Gaza City.

OCHA said that around 3,000 people had already been displaced within the enclave prior to Saturday’s attack.

The bombing campaign has destroyed or rendered uninhabitable at least 2,540 housing units in Gaza, OCHA said, citing numbers from the Gaza Ministry of Public Works and Housing. Another 22,850 housing units sustained moderate to minor damage, it said.

The UN agency also voiced alarm at the significant destruction of civilian infrastructure damaged in the shelling.

Among other things, it said sewage facilities serving more than a million people had been hit by air strikes, leaving solid waste accumulating in the streets, posing a health threat.