‘We Continue to Deliver Humanitarian Assistance to Palestinians’: India Ships 2nd Batch of Aid

Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Sunday posted photographs of the second batch of humanitarian aid India is sending to Palestinians caught in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“We continue to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Palestine. Second IAF_MCC C17 aircraft carrying 32 tonnes of aid departs for the El-Arish Airport in Egypt,” Jaishankar said, while sharing the photos on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. The flight is headed to El-Arish Airport in Egypt.

India sent the first batch of aid on October 22. It sent 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine.

The first shipment of aid included essential life-saving medicines, surgical items, tents, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, sanitary utilities and water purification tablets among other necessary items.

India has advocated for peace in the region but on October 26, India abstained from the resolution at the Special Emergency Session, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

However, India has maintained that it advocates for the two-state solution and believes that this will bring long-lasting peace in the region. India also reiterated its stance to ally the United States last week during the 2+2 India-US ministerial dialogue.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks, which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.

The army’s relentless air and ground campaign has since killed 12,300 people, more than 5,000 of them children, according to the Hamas government which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

There were reports that the US helped broker a deal between Israel and Hamas to free the hostages but the White House denied that such a deal has been finalised. The US said it is working with all sides to broker a deal so that hostages can be released from Gaza.

Gaza’s largest hospital has turned into a death zone, as per World Health Organisation (WHO) officials. The WHO team along with teams from multilateral forums visited the Al Shifa hospital and saw around 300 patients were stuck in the hospital as Israel continues with its siege on the hospital claiming that Hamas runs a control and command centre from the basement of the hospital.