The evacuation of Indians stranded in war-torn Gaza Strip is difficult under the current circumstances and attempts to get them out will be made at the first opportunity, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday.
Addressing a media briefing, Bagchi said, “The situation in Gaza is difficult for any evacuation but if we get a chance, we will get them out.”
Bagchi informed that there are four Indians currently stranded in Gaza and one is in the West Bank. So far, he said that there are no reports of any Indian casualty in the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel or the subsequent war in Gaza.
However, according to the Israeli Embassy in India, three Indians are missing since the October 7 attack. An Indian caregiver in south Israel’s Ashkelon sustained injuries in Hamas attack on Sabbath. She was reportedly on a video call with her husband when Hamas pounded Israel with rocket barrages.
More than 1,400 people, including foreign nationals, children, women and soldiers, were killed in the brutal attack as nearly 2,500 Hamas militants invaded the country under the cover of rocket barrages.
They rampaged through Israeli borders towns and communities and brutally murdered civilians in the deadliest attack Israel has faced in its history of 75 years. The Gaza Strip-based Palestinian militants also kidnapped some 203 people.
In response, Israel declared a war against Hamas and vowed to wipe the Palestinian militant outfit from the Earth. More than 3,700 people have died in Israeli bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
Israel has also blocked water, fuel, food and electricity supply to the blockaded region and warned Gazan civilians to flee their homes in North ahead of a full-scale and coordinated ground, air and sea assault.