India on Sunday said immediate de-escalation between Israel and Palestine is the need of the hour and urged both sides to show extreme restraint, desist from actions that exacerbate tensions, and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status-quo.
Over the past 7 days, armed conflict between Israel and the Hamas-led militant groups have kept flaring up, marking the fiercest fighting between the two sides since 2014 that has killed more than 174 Palestinians and nearly 10 Israelis.
“Immediate de-escalation is the need of the hour, so as to arrest any further slide towards the brink,” Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, T S Tirumurti said at the Open Debate on Middle East.
Mr Tirumurti reiterated India’s strong support to ‘just’ Palestinian cause and its unwavering commitment to the two-State solution.
He said that the indiscriminate rocket firings from Gaza targeting the civilian population in Israel, which India condemns, and the retaliatory strikes into Gaza, have caused immense suffering and resulted in deaths, including women and children.
“India has also lost one of her nationals living in Israel in this rocket fire – a caregiver in Ashkelon. We deeply mourn her demise along with all other civilians who have lost their lives in the current cycle of violence,” the Ambassador averred adding that India condemns all acts of violence, provocation, incitement and destruction.
A 30-year-old Indian woman, hailing from Idukki in Kerala, was killed in a rocket attack by a Palestinian Islamist group on Tuesday.
