India's position on Gaza crisis 'remarkable' from day one: Israeli envoy Naor Gilon
Israeli defence forces have completely destroyed Hamas's infrastructure in northern Gaza except the underground tunnels and the focus at the end of the current pause in fighting will be to clean up the southern part of the strip, Israeli Ambassador Naor Gilon said on Tuesday. In an interaction with a group of journalists, the envoy also described India's position on the Gaza crisis as «remarkable» from the day one and especially mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strong denunciation of Hamas's unprecedented terror attack on Israeli cities on October 7.
Gilon said Israel banning Lashkar-e-Taiba as a terror group around 15 years after the Mumbai terror attack was a «gesture», asserting that both sides have been expanding anti-terror cooperation in the last few years.
The Israeli ambassador said he was hopeful that India will designate Hamas as a terrorist entity and that his government has already provided New Delhi all the required information against the group.
Days after the October 7 attack on Israeli cities by Hamas, Israel called on India to designate the group as a terrorist entity as was done by many other countries.
«We did whatever was expected from our side.
Now it is for the Indian government to decide — if, where, how, how fast,» he said when asked whether New Delhi has given any indication on whether it will heed to the Israeli request.
When asked whether information provided to the Indian government on Hamas also includes its possible activities in India, he said it is not specific to any geographies.
«We gave general information about the activities of Hamas wherever they are; not specific to (India),» he said.
After weeks of fighting, Israel and Hamas agreed on a four-day pause in fighting
