New Delhi, Feb 26: Reuven Azar, the Ambassador of Israel to India, on Wednesday expressed concerns over reports of leaders of Palestinian terror outfit Hamas going into a huddle with terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), earlier this month.
“Unfortunately, terrorist organisations work in networks and many times they find ways to support each other in a way that is detrimental for many countries, not just for our region,” Azar told IANS in an exclusive interview.
“The fact that, for example, there was a meeting only a couple of weeks ago in the areas that are under Pakistani control in Kashmir of leaders of Hamas tells you something about how these terrorist organisations are inspiring each other… Apparently, they are cooperating in order to achieve their common goal which is to terrorize us and to terrorize you. So this is something that we have to take into account,” he added.
India on Wednesday is marking the sixth anniversary of the “punitive” Balakot airstrike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) that destroyed the JeM camps in PoK where operatives were trained for suicide missions and deadly terror attacks.
The airstrike was part of India’s campaign against cross-border terrorism after the horrific Pulwama terror attack in 2019 and manifested the country’s willingness to take decisive action against terror infrastructure in Pakistan.
Several leaders have voiced their concerns over Pakistan’s involvement with terrorist organisations to fuel unrest in the region after Hamas Commander Khaled al-Qaddoumi and other Pakistani terrorists were spotted during a rally in PoK.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesperson Vinod Bansal had claimed that Pakistan’s Intelligence agency ISI is playing an important role in this “terror alliance”. Israel’s ongoing large-scale offensive against Hamas has also come in response to the deadly assault carried out by the terror outfit on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 which resulted in around 1,200 deaths and the taking of 250 hostages.
On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar emphasised that the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to extend the ceasefire agreement with Hamas in exchange for more freed hostages. “We do not rule out an extension of the temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of additional hostages,” Sa’ar reportedly said as he held a series of “personal meetings” with his counterparts from the European Union as part of his diplomatic visit to Brussels.
Sa’ar made it clear that any extension of the temporary ceasefire will not happen without the release of hostages. “We are committed to the release of our hostages and to the war’s objectives that we set.”
IANS