NEW DELHI: Palestine is looking to India to play an active role in the reconstruction of war-ravaged Gaza and in supporting the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as part of the implementation of a peace plan, Palestinian foreign minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin said on Thursday.
Shahin, who is in New Delhi to participate in the second India-Arab League foreign ministers’ meeting, emphasised the importance of India’s role in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in light of reports that up to $110 billion will be needed to rebuild the world’s most densely populated conclave following Israel’s bombardment of the region.
“In that regard, we look forward to India’s participation actively, we know it will. We would like it to continue participating in the reconstruction efforts. It has done a lot in easier times, what is needed now is more in more difficult times,” Shahin said at a media briefing.
“We would like [India] to continue its humanitarian assistance, not only in Gaza and the West Bank, but also towards UNRWA. [India] has upped its contribution to UNRWA and UNRWA, for us, is a lifeline to the Palestinian refugees and UNRWA’s operations need to continue,” she said, referring to New Delhi’s 2018 decision to hike its annual funding for the UN agency from $1.25 million to $5 million.
Shahin emphasised that UNRWA, which has been repeatedly targeted by Israel in recent months, was created to cater to Palestinian refugees and is mandated by the UN.
{{/usCountry}}Shahin emphasised that UNRWA, which has been repeatedly targeted by Israel in recent months, was created to cater to Palestinian refugees and is mandated by the UN.
{{/usCountry}}“We want humanitarian assistance to start entering [Gaza] unimpeded. Until today, that humanitarian assistance is not entering in the amounts that were approved. It is more than what it was before, but it’s still not close to what is needed. So the needs in Gaza are enormous,” she said.
Responding to reports that Hamas, which carried out the terror attacks in October 2023 that triggered the conflict with Israel, had established links with Pakistan-based terror groups, Shahin said: “We condemn all forms of violence and any relation with anybody that espouses violence. We in Palestine espouse non-violence and we espouse international law, period.”
India has maintained that it backs a two-state solution through dialogue and diplomacy. It has also called for the cessation of hostilities, the release of all hostages taken by Hamas in October 2023 and unimpeded access to Gaza for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
Shahin emphasised that the need for assisting the people of Gaza was probably “50 times” greater than in the period before 2023. “If we had 60% of the population of the Gaza Strip as refugees before 2023, I can assure you today everyone is a refugee in Gaza, or they have lost everything. So, the expectations from India are enormous and we hope that India will come and [do] whatever it takes as it has done in the past,” she said.
She noted that since the Palestinians signed the Oslo Accords, it has witnessed “more annexation of Palestinian land, more encroachment on our human rights, more killing of the Palestinians”, while the world community has remained a silent witness. “What we witnessed was live on TV and the whole world has seen it. No one can say we have not seen it,” he said.
“It’s not like anything that happened in the past. Everybody has seen the killing, the destruction, the injuries, the wiping off of communities. Whole areas were obliterated. The attack on identity, on schools, cultural centres, hospitals, everything that is needed for people to be able to live – 82 % of Gaza has been destroyed infrastructure-wise. They have killed over 72,000 and another 172,000 were injured, and this is the direct killing and injuries, because if you count the indirect killing and injuries, the numbers will be much higher,” Shahin said.