Anadolu staff
16 October 2023•Update: 16 October 2023
ANKARA
A group of opposition leaders, including some present and former parliamentarians, on Monday met the Palestinian envoy in New Delhi to express “solidarity” and urged an “immediate cessation of all hostilities to prevent further loss of innocent lives and the destruction of homes and infrastructure.”
“We express our deep concern regarding the ongoing crisis in Gaza and the suffering of the Palestinian people. We strongly condemn the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel, which we believe amounts to an attempt at genocide,” the leaders said in a statement on Monday.
The delegation included Javed Ali Khan, a member of parliament of the Samajwadi Party, parliamentarian Manoj Kumar Jha from the Rashtriya Janata Dal Party, and former Indian Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.
Calling all for “urgent and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid” to the people of Gaza, the leaders stated that the “dire humanitarian situation demands immediate attention and action.”
“All necessary measures must be taken to ensure that essential supplies, including food, water, and medical aid, reach the affected population without hindrance,” it said, adding: “Violence is never a solution as it leads to a cycle of destruction and suffering.”
Recalling the words of Indian freedom icon Mahatma Gandhi, the leaders maintained: “Gandhi said Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.”
The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) on Monday said that workers were detained by the police in the national capital New Delhi as they expressed their "solidarity with Palestinian people and their struggle for liberation!"
On Monday evening, people gathered in India's Bengaluru city to express solidarity with Palestine. Indian climate activist Disha Ravi wrote on X that some of the people were detained by police.
Meanwhile, authorities in the northern Uttar Pradesh state suspended a cop over his social media post in support of Palestine, local news agency Press Trust of India reported on Monday.
Ten days into the conflict with Palestinian group Hamas, Israeli bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip has continued, with over 1 million people – almost half the total population of Gaza – having been displaced, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
Gaza is experiencing a dire humanitarian crisis with no electricity, while water, food, fuel and medical supplies are running out, as civilians flee to the south following Israeli warning to evacuate northern areas.
The fighting began when Hamas on Oct. 7 initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence.
The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.
The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza has risen to 2,750, including 750 children.
In Israel, 1,300 have been killed.
