New Delhi: Palestine’s Ambassador to India Adnan Abu Al-Haija on Friday said the international community has “ignored” what has been going on against his people, and claimed that the main aim of Israel in the ongoing conflict in Gaza is to clear the region of Palestinians.

At a discussion on the recent ruling of the International Court of Justice on the conflict, the ambassador said the international community should move quickly to find a political solution to the conflict.

Expressing solidarity with Palestine, Congress leader Salman Khurshid said, “We feel the pain of all Palestinian children and women and people. We also know that is a fate that may well await somebody else. It can happen here amongst us tomorrow. It could be anywhere else in the world. And how do we stop it? We must stop it when it is still in the bud.” “Our democratic government has to respond,” he said, adding that India has long been tied to the cause of Palestine.

In his address, the ambassador said, “The international community has ignored what has been going on against Palestinians. Palestinians have been suffering since 1917 when the British entered the country.” He said the present Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the most “extreme” in the history of Israel, and 2.3 million people in Palestine have been living in an open prison for 17 years now.

“What’s the target of this aggression? It is to evacuate people from Palestine. This is the main target of the Israeli government. Because of that they have destroyed more than 80 per cent of Gaza strip buildings,” he said.

“No one can describe the situation in words. They have killed about 30,000 people. The UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) has also been attacked. More than a million and half are facing real hunger, but our decision is to live and die on the land of Palestine,” he said.  “The international community should move quickly, if they don’t find a political solution and establish a nation of Palestine, then future wars will be much worse than this war,” he said.  The International Court of Justice, in a genocide case brought by South Africa, demanded that Israel try to contain death and damage in its military offensive in Gaza.

Talking about the ruling, senior advocate Anand Grover said the ICJ in a way said that “genocide is being committed” by Israel on the people of Palestine.

He said that by continuing the attack, Israel is violating the ruling, and added that India needs to break its silence.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Subhashini Ali called Israel’s attack an “imperialist war”.  “Israel is an outpost of imperialism planted in the heart of the Arab world. Some people think it is a religious conflict, but that is not true,” she said.

She also said that the funding for UNRWA should not be cut.

“Israel says everyone we are killing is Hamas…. Two-thirds of the casualties are women and children,” she said.  CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said that India today stands among the countries which are internationally being seen as “complicit” in what is happening in Gaza.  “Most countries are witnessing protests, we are not being permitted to carry out a protest in Delhi,” he alleged.

“Our foreign policy has changed and the most striking point is our growing strategic partnership with Israel…,” he said.

He also drew parallels with the ongoing farmers’ protest, and said, “The way farmers are being suppressed that’s also an Israel model… Zionism is the same as Hindutva,” he said.

Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7, after the militants stormed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. More than 100 hostages were freed in a week-long ceasefire in late November.

Since the start of the war, 29,514 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s offensive and close to 70,000 were wounded, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday.