India joins BRICS nations to condemn Israeli airstrike in Qatar

New Delhi: India has joined Brazil, Russia, and the other BRICS nations in condemning Israel’s recent attack on Qatar as well as its persistent military offensive in Gaza.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar hosted a meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He and the other BRICS ministers condemned Israel’s armed attack on Qatar on September 9.

They noted that the attack constituted a flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty, a grave breach of international law, including the UN Charter, and a threat to regional and international peace and security.

At least five representatives of Hamas were killed when Israel carried out an airstrike on the political office of the Sunni Islamist Palestinian nationalist militia in a residential compound in Doha on September 9.

Hamas claimed that its negotiators were in Doha to discuss the latest US proposal for a ceasefire between itself and the Israeli Defence Force in the Gaza Strip. The negotiators, however, survived the attack.

Hamas has been hosting a political office in Doha since 2012.

The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on September 10 stated that India was deeply concerned by the Israeli strike and its impact on the security situation in the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed "deep concerns".

Modi had a phone call with the Amir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, on September 10. He condemned the violation of the sovereignty of the State of Qatar, in a rare criticism of an action by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Israel.