India welcomes Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, backs peace efforts

India welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, with MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal backing peace efforts, while noting due process on designating Hamas as a terror outfit amid regional tensions.

New Delhi:  India on Friday welcomed the ceasefire announced between Israel and Lebanon, expressing support for every step that leads towards peace. While addressing a weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Friday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We welcome the ceasefire. We welcome every step that leads towards peace.” MEA’s statement comes after US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon aimed at bringing a temporary cooling-off along another front linked to the Iran conflict.

Lebanon is not directly engaged in a formal war with Israel, but Hezbollah controls large parts of southern Lebanon and has carried out attacks on Israel, prompting retaliatory strikes. Unable to rein in Hezbollah, Lebanon has borne the brunt of Israeli retaliation. When asked about Israel requesting India to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation and India’s policy about disarming Hamas, Jaiswal responded, “We have a process in place, and those issues are addressed under that process.”

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On Thursday, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar stressed the importance of Hamas being designated as a terror organisation by India during his interaction with a group of distinguished Hindu leaders from around the world. “I stressed the importance of Hamas being designated as a terror organisation by India. Hamas has ties with all other radical Islamist terror organisations, including Lashkar-e-Taiba,” Sa’ar during the virtual interaction.

The Israeli Foreign Minister stated that he was honoured to brief the group of distinguished leaders. “I spoke about the positive trends in the strengthening of Israel’s relations with India, and the great importance we attach to this relationship. I also spoke about the historic campaign Israel had been forced to fight for the past 2.5 years against radical Islam. Their declared objective is the elimination of Israel, and they act to achieve that goal,” Saar posted on X. “Israel demonstrated on all fronts that it has the upper hand. It dramatically weakened the terror octopus of radical Islam, headed by the Iranian regime. This struggle has, and will have, implications beyond the Middle East,” he added.