NSA Ajit Doval discusses Gaza war, humanitarian assistance with Israeli PM Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu. Pic/AFP

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Monday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discussed the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

The meeting also focused on efforts to release hostages and provide humanitarian assistance.

Taking to social media platform 'X', Israeli PM office said, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and updated him on recent developments in the fighting in the Gaza Strip. The sides also discussed the effort to release the hostages and the issue of humanitarian assistance."

"The Director of the National Security Council, the Prime Minister's Foreign Policy Advisor and the Indian Ambassador to Israel also participated in the meeting," Israeli PMO said.

Earlier, Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated his stand to begin military operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, stating that Israel wants to ensure that an attack similar to October 7 won't happen again, as reported by CNN.

"We'll go there. We're not going to leave. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn't happen again. Never happens again. And to do that, we have to complete the destruction of the Hamas terrorist army," he said.

Netanyahu said the operation would not last more than two months but did not provide specifics on the timeline.

The Israeli PM also defended his policies in the Gaza Strip and responded to US President Joe Biden's remark that the Israeli leader is "hurting Israel more than helping."

"I don't know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant by that, that I'm pursuing private policies against the wish of the majority of Israelis, and that this is hurting the interests of Israel then he's wrong on both counts," Netanyahu said in an interview with Politico and German media outlet Bild, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said the militant group is still open to continued mediated talks with Israel after the sides failed to reach a truce agreement before Ramadan.

But he also insisted that a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces is the only way forward to an agreement, CNN reported.

"We have established the most important principle for reaching an agreement, which is a comprehensive ceasefire and an end to the war on Gaza, the complete withdrawal of the occupation army from all the territory of the Gaza Strip," Haniyeh said in a televised speech Sunday.

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