'Reiterated India's Long-Standing Position': Jaishankar After Speaking to Palestinian PM on Gaza Crisis

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh over the phone on Saturday and reiterated India’s long-established stand on Palestine.

During the conversation, Shtayyeh expressed his concern on the current situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Both the leaders also agreed on staying in touch after the conversation.

After talking to the Palestinian PM, Jaishankar took to the microblogging site X and said, “Spoke to Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh this evening. He expressed deep concern on the situation in both Gaza and the West Bank. Reiterated India’s long standing position on Palestine. Agreed to remain in touch.”

Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affair, during a press conference on October 12 had said that India’s position on the Palestine issue has been “longstanding and consistent”.

“India has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine living within secure and recognised borders side by side at peace with Palestine,” Bagchi said, adding that India’s position remains the same.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also spoken to the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas and expressed his condolences over the lives lost in Gaza’s Al Ahli Hospital.

PM Modi had also reiterated India’s commitment towards providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people while also pressing on India’s long-standing position on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The prime minister, at the time, also took to X and wrote, “Spoke to the President of the Palestinian Authority HE Mahmoud Abbas. Conveyed my condolences at the loss of civilian lives at the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza. We will continue to send humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people.”

The Israel Defence Forces has said that its 98th Division is still fighting Hamas in Gaza’s Khan Younis. The Israeli Air Force, in fact, took to X and said that it carried out an air strike on the infrastructure belonging to terror group Hamas on Saturday.

According to the IDF, the Golani Infantry Brigade’s 12 Battalion raided a mosque in Khan Younis, where Hamas terrorists were operating, The Times of Israel report said. The IDF said that an explosive device was detonated near the forces and soldiers directed a combat helicopter to eliminate a number of terrorists on the mosque’s roof.

The IDF said that an Israeli Air Force jet destroyed the mosque along with the underground infrastructure under it. On the other hand, the Maglan unit spotted three Hamas terrorists coming out of a tunnel shaft in Khan Younis and firing RPGs at the troops, IDF said.

Troops belonging to the Maglan unit also conducted drone strikes on other operatives of the terror group and their infrastructures in the area. Reportedly, IDF said that the elite Duvdevan unit also discovered a Hamas command room used by operatives to launch attack on the soldiers.

The Duvdevan unit conducted a separate assault on the building after which an IAF fighter jet conducted strikes on another property belonging to Hamas in the area. The Givati Infantry Brigade, the IDF said, killed a number of Hamas operatives and found several tunnel shafts in Southern Gaza.

So far, Hamas has released over 100 hostages including Israelis, Americans and other nationals. The terror outfit released the hostages as part of a truce agreement in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

(With inputs from ANI)