Benjamin Netanyahu thanks 'dear friend' Modi for sending 'Hydroxychloroquine to Israel'

After US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his decision to supply Hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, seen as useful in the treatment of COVID-19.

"Thank you, my dear friend, Narendra Modi for sending Hydroxychloroquine to Israel," a tweet from the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel read. "All the citizens of Israel thank you."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephone conversation on April 3 with Benjamin Netanyahu where the two leaders discussed the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the response strategies adopted by their respective governments to the health crisis.

The leaders also explored possible collaboration between India and Israel in fighting the pandemic, including by improving availability of pharmaceutical supplies and by innovative use of high technology.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump thanked PM Modi and the people of India for lifting curbs on the export of hydroxychloroquine.

"Extraordinary times require even closer cooperation between friends. Thank you, India and the Indian people for the decision on HCQ. Will not be forgotten! Thank you Prime Minister @NarendraModi for your strong leadership in helping not just India, but humanity, in this fight!" Trump had said in a post on Twitter on Wednesday.

Earlier, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing the export of raw materials to his country to produce hydroxychloroquine. Bolsonaro was one of the leaders Prime Minister Modi spoke to over the weekend in his continuing interaction with world leaders since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

India is the largest manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine in the world but the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had banned exports of the drug and its ingredients in view of the rapid rise in the infection-related cases in the country.