Jaishankar holds talks with Palestinian counterpart on Gaza situation

Munich, Feb 18 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday met his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki during which they exchanged views on the current situation in war-torn Gaza.

Jaishankar is in Germany to attend the prestigious Munich Security Conference, the world’s leading forum for debate on international security.

"Nice to see Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki. Exchanged views on the current situation in Gaza," the minister posted on X, sharing a photograph of the meeting.

India has been pushing for a two-state solution to the Palestine issue for many decades.

During an interactive session at a security conference here on Saturday, Jaishankar underlined that an increasing number of countries are now not only supporting the two-state solution to the Palestine issue but seeing it as "more urgent" than before.

The minister described the October 7 attacks on Israeli cities by Hamas as "terrorism". At the same time, he said Israel has an international obligation to observe humanitarian law.

It is important that Israel should have been very mindful of civilian casualties, he said at the session, also attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Israel has been pushing ahead with its military offensive in Gaza as part of its retaliation to the unprecedented attack on Israeli cities by Hamas on October 7.

Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped more than 220 others some of whom were released during a brief ceasefire.

Over 25,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the Israeli offensive, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza.

India has been calling for de-escalation of the situation and creating conditions for an early resumption of direct peace negotiations towards a two-state solution to the Palestine issue.

India strongly condemned the terror attack by Hamas. PTI