Palestinians denied right to homeland: Jaishankar

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said a response to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza must take into account the fact the Palestinian people have been “denied the right to their homeland”.

Jaishankar, who was on a visit to Malaysia, said that while Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel was “terrorism”, any response to it must take humanitarian law into account.

“Countries may be justified in their own minds in responding but every response must take into account international humanitarian law,” the foreign minister said while interacting with the Indian community in Malaysia.

He added: “The fact is whatever the rights and wrongs of the issue, there is an underlying issue of the rights of the Palestinians and the fact that they have been denied their homeland.”

Israel’s war on Gaza began after Hamas’ incursion into southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people. The militant group had also taken over 200 people hostage.

Some of the hostages were released in November as part of a brief ceasefire agreement in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and humanitarian aid.

Since October, Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza.