Putting LeT on terror list a gesture to mark 15 yrs of 26/11: Israeli envoy

When asked about Israel’s request to the Indian government to list Hamas as a terrorist organisation, Gilon said, “We have filed the information needed… now it’s the Indian government to decide.”

Talking about the Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli envoy said, “The moment the ceasefire ends, we are going back to the mission… this is not a secret. We have told Hamas that they will get a day extra of ceasefire for every 10 hostages released.”

Israel embassy’s defence attache, Col Avihay Zafrany, said that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has destroyed all the Hamas terrorist infrastructure above the ground in north Gaza, as three Divisions of the Israeli forces attacked from three sides.

Underlining that the IDF’s goals are to “destroy Hamas infrastructure and military capabilities”, “track and kill Hamas terrorists” and “gather information and assist the safe return of hostages”, Col Zafrany said that the Al Shifa Hospital was a military headquarter of the Hamas and they have found cache of weapons and ammunition in the hospital’s MRI room.

Col Zafrany said the tactical challenge is the ground operations in an urban area full of hostile subterranean terrorist infrastructure. He said that after the operations in north Gaza, they will move to south Gaza but refused to elaborate on the timeline.

Gilon said that they understand that Hamas will use the ceasefire to “regroup” and it is not an easy way out. “But the moment the ceasefire ends, we go back to the mission,” he said.

“We went to sleep on October 6 with Hamas neighbours, but woke up with ISIS as neighbours,” Gilon said.

He said that Israel President Isaac Herzog will be in Dubai for the COP meeting and if the schedules allow, a possibility of a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will also be there, exists. “If it happens, we will be very happy,” he said.

“The Indian position, from Day 1, on the Gaza crisis was remarkable. One of the strongest reactions came from Prime Minister Modi already about 4.30 pm on October 7, when the full magnitude of what happened in Israel was not clear. He came out and was very clear and adamant against terrorism,” Gilon said.

“The Indian government is also speaking of doing humanitarian aid and speaking about the humanitarian needs, we also do, we also are very much attentive to the humanitarian needs… We want the humanitarian situation to be under control and reasonable for the people. So it is a joint way and speaking also about having a two-state solution. And this is very consistent,” the Israeli envoy said.