Voicing deep concerns over the recent largescale eruption of hostilities between Israel and Palestine, prominent Islamic organisation of India, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has reminded that the current spate of violence is the result of Israeli aggression unleashed by the most right-wing Netanyahu government against the Palestinians that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people including children, so far.
– Anwarulhaq Baig
New Delhi, October 8, 2023: The world has called for restraint as the fierce conflict between Palestinian fighters, Israeli forces, and airstrikes in Gaza escalates, pushing the death toll to 1000 on both sides following Hamas’ largest-ever attack on the Jewish state.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas launched a massive surprise attack called ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ on Israel on Saturday, stating that it was in response to the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the escalating settler violence against Palestinians. The group fired thousands of rockets and claimed to have captured many Israeli soldiers.
Shortly after the attack, head of Hamas’s political bureau Ismail Haneyya in a televised speech vowed that the group was on the verge of a great victory and a clear conquest on the Gaza front. Urging the Arab and Islamic countries to join in this battle, he claimed that it had reliable information that the occupation was determined to continue its aggression against the Aqsa Mosque.
In reaction, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while warning of “a long and difficult war” initiated largescale airstrikes called ‘Operation Swords of Iron’ against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
According to the latest reports, the ongoing military escalation with Palestinian groups has resulted in the deaths of over 650 Israelis and over 370 in Gaza as of Sunday evening. Over 2,000 Israelis have been injured so far while nearly 2000 Palestinians wounded in the ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, according to the ministry of health in Gaza.
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has announced an emergency session over the recent violence in the Middle East while the Palestinian Authority has also called for an emergency Arab League meeting.
The 75-year-old Middle East conflict has deeply divided the world. While India, the United States, and Europe have supported Israel, Arab states and Iran have held the Jewish nation responsible for provocation. Both Russia and China have urged restraint and an immediate ceasefire.
Announcing his support for Israel on his official X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, writes, “I am deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. India stands in solidarity with Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.”
Condemning the attacks on Israel, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on his X, said, “The Indian National Congress has always believed that the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a life of self-respect, equality and dignity must be fulfilled only through a process of dialogue and negotiations while ensuring the legitimate national security interests of the Israeli people. Violence of any type never provides a solution and must stop.”
Calling to end confrontation, CPI (M), in a statement posted on its website, stated that the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) strongly condemns the attacks and counter attacks between Hamas and the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip of Palestine.
“The most right-wing Netanyahu government in Israel has been indiscriminately occupying Palestine lands and establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank. So far this year, prior to this conflict, 248 Palestinian lives have been lost including 40 children. The United Nations must ensure the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people for a Home Land, withdrawal of all Israeli illegal settlements and occupations of Palestine lands and ensure the implementation of UNSC resolution for a two-nation solution,” it added.
Voicing deep concerns over the recent largescale eruption of hostilities between Israel and Palestine, prominent Islamic organisation of India, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has reminded that the current spate of violence is the result of Israeli aggression unleashed by the most right-wing Netanyahu government against the Palestinians that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people including children, so far.
JIH President Syed Sadatullah Husaini noted that the continued Israeli policies of occupation, settlements, and the provocative desecration of the Aqsa Mosque were depriving the region of any serious opportunity for peace and stability in the region.
Urging the United Nations and the international community to take immediate action to de-escalate the situation and halt the expansion of Jewish settlements, the JIH President appealed to them to prevent Israel from using such events as an excuse to launch a disproportionate war against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Citing the famous saying of Gandhiji, which has been the basis of India’s age-old policy that “Palestine belongs to the Palestinians just as England belongs to the British,” Mr. Husaini asked the Indian government to support the Palestinians, assist them in establishing their own state, and leverage its global influence to bring peace to the region.
Expressing solidarity with the Palestinian resistance in their struggle for liberation, the National Secretary of the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), Abdullah Faiz, mentioned the flagrant mockery of international laws, countless killings, and the repeated desecration of Al-Aqsa by the apartheid Israeli state as the causes of the current escalation in the region.
Urging the Indian government to extend its support to Palestine, Mr. Faiz stressed that the international community should hold Israel accountable for the significant crimes it has been committing against the Palestinian people.
According to a report, special prayers were held at the Ajmer Dargah for peace in the region. Chairperson of Chishty Foundation Ajmer, Haji Syed Salman Chishty emphasized that World peace organizations should unite to defuse the situation and work towards conflict resolution.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, on his X, writes, “Praying that peace prevails in the occupied territories of Palestine.”
Meantime, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has reported that more than 20,000 Palestinians from Gaza’s border region have taken refuge in UN schools deeper inside the strip as Israel escalated its air attacks on the besieged enclave.
