Want a future that has hope for Palestinians: Israeli Ambassador to India

Israel's Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar spoke to ANI about Hamas, how Israel is neutralising the terrorists and the way Hamas is exploiting the aid meant for Palestinians.

The conflict in Gaza reignited after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. About 2,500 terrorists breached the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,200 people, including citizens of more than 30 countries, and also took 250 people as hostages. Following the October 7 attack, Israel launched a counter-offensive against Hamas, vowing to eliminate the entire terror group.

Ambassador Reuven Azar said that Israel has given "very severe blows" to Hamas.

"We have neutralised all the battalions of Hamas and we have neutralised the missile threat against Israel from the Gaza Strip. Now we have to bring back the rest of our hostages. We will continue putting pressure in order to reach a situation that we get our hostages back on the one hand and in parallel, we prevent the rearming and regrouping of Hamas terrorist organisation", the Ambassador told ANI.

He noted that there the Israeli presence inside the Gaza Strip is operating on two fronts, namely eliminating Hamas and at the same time ensuring that innocent Palestinians are getting the humanitarian aid. "We are putting military pressure on sporadic attempts of Hamas to rearm and regroup and we are doing a huge effort on the humanitarian side in order to facilitate aid for the Palestinian needy population".

The Ambassador made a significant observation and said, "One of the challenges we have is that Hamas is taking over that humanitarian assistance, and instead of supplying it free of charge to the population, it is charging money for that because they want to continue controlling the Gaza Strip".

He thus said that the Israeli government will have to make decisions what to do in order to neutralise that because Israel wants the "Palestinian population to get the food they deserve from the international community. And we want a future that has hope for the Palestinians in Gaza".

He noted the role of US in brokering the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel and thanked the US for its generous aid to Israel. "This aid is going to help us to get prepared for any scenario in the future, especially in the Iranian context", Ambassador Azar said.

Israel and Lebanon have been engaged in a prolonged conflict that began on October 8 last year, when Hezbollah attacked Israeli-controlled territory in solidarity with Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza, as reported by CNN.

This incident sparked a series of tit-for-tat border attacks, which eventually escalated into a major military offensive launched by Israel in mid-September.

Amid the background of this volatile situation, a ceasefire was negotiated by the US and France between Israel and Lebanon.

"The announcement today will cease the fighting in Lebanon, and secure Israel from the threat of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations operating from Lebanon. This announcement will create the conditions to restore lasting calm and allow residents in both countries to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line", the Joint Statement issued by US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron read.