CPI(M), CPI condemn Israeli attacks on Gaza

Condemning the "renewed military attacks" on Gaza, CPI(M) and CPI said in a joint statement that over 250 strikes have been launched in the last 48 hours, killing 15 Palestinians, including Hamas military chief Ahmad Jaabari and three children, and injuring over 150.

"This aggression is similar to the last war that Israel had launched on Gaza in December 2008 in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed," CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and his CPI counterpart S Sudhakar Reddy said in the statement.

"We call upon the Indian government to condemn the Israeli aggression on Gaza. India must also suspend immediately its military ties with Israel, as India's huge arms purchase helps to subsidise the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza," they said.

The 1.7 million people of Gaza continue to remain under a "brutal siege, with the Israeli stranglehold affecting even basic necessities such as food and medicine," they said.

Reports available indicate that hospitals are running out of medicine, while power and water supplies have been cut to the Gaza residents, Karat and Reddy said.