PM Modi Calls For Release Of Hostages, Ceasefire In Conversation With Netanyahu Over West Asia De-Escalation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu ‘to de-escalate the situation’ in West Asia when the latter dialled him to wish him on India’s 78th Independence Day.

“Appreciate PM @netanyahu’s phone call and warm wishes on India’s 78th Independence Day. We discussed the current situation in West Asia. Emphasized on the need to de-escalate the situation. Reiterated our call for immediate release of all hostages, ceasefire and need for continued humanitarian assistance,” PM Modi said in a post on social media site X.

PM Modi also reiterated that India demands that all hostages be released, a ceasefire being declared and stressed on the need for continued humanitarian assistance to affected parties.

India on several occasions has urged Israel and Palestinian officials to choose a path of diplomacy over war and de-escalate the conflict on several occasions and at international forums like the UN and the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, talks were held in Doha where the US offered a “bridging proposal” to Israel and Hamas in Doha to seal a deal and the ceasefire talks will resume again next week in Cairo.

The United States said that the two days of talks in Doha were “serious and constructive” and that Washington, represented by CIA Director William Burns, offered ideas to close an agreement toward ending the 10-month conflict.

However, Hamas rejected ‘new conditions’ in the proposed Gaza deal, officials told news agency AFP.

Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war that resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. Some were freed during a one-week truce in November.

On Thursday the toll from Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza topped 40,000, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant casualties.