Watch: What does the crisis in West Asia mean for India? | Realpolitik

| Video Credit:
Thamodaran B, Shiv Raj

Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas has entered its second year and the country also launched its fourth invasion of Lebanon on October 1, targeting Hezbollah. 

Beyond these two ground battles, there is an unfolding confrontation between Israel and Iran. Where does this dangerous situation leave West Asia? And what does the crisis mean for India? 

In thia episode of Realpolitik, Stanly Johny, The Hindu’s International Affairs Editor, talks to former foreign secretary Ambassador Ranjan Mathai, India’s who had also served as India’s Ambassador to Israel in the 1990s, to discuss the situation in the region.

Presentation: Stanly Johny

Camera: Thamodaran B, Shiv Raj

Production: V Nivedita 

Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on October 12, 2023 as raging battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day. Washington urged Israel to show restraint in its response to Hamas’s surprise attack — the worst in the country’s 75-year history — which Israeli forces said killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. In Gaza, officials have reported more than 1,200 people killed in Israel’s uninterrupted campaign of air and artillery strikes, while the UN said more than 338,000 people have been displaced.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Hamas militants on October 12 fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv in response to Israeli air strikes that targeted “civilians” in two Gaza refugee camps, the Palestinian group said.

“Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades fired rockets at Tel Aviv in response to (Israeli strikes) targeting civilians in Al-Shati and Jabalia camps,” Hamas said, referring to its armed wing, in a text message sent to journalists.

AFP correspondents witnessed dozens of air strikes over 30 minutes on October 12 morning in the direction of Al-Shati camp and in the blockaded strip’s north.

“The occupation (Israeli forces) committed massacres this morning in Al-Shati camp and Jabalia camp, leaving dozens of martyrs and injured,” Iyad al-Buzum, spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry, told AFP.

AFP journalists saw at least seven dead bodies and six buildings destroyed in Al-Shati camp.

Israel has launched a withering air campaign against Hamas militants in the blockaded Gaza Strip after the Islamists carried out a massive assault on Israel on October 7 that killed more than 1,200 people.

Around another 1,200 people have been killed in the Palestinian coastal enclave in Israeli air strikes, according to Hamas officials.