Arab foreign ministers to visit New Delhi this week

Foreign ministers of the Arab league are expected in India this week to discuss humanitarian aid for those trapped in Gaza amid the Hamas-Israel conflict.

The Arab world ministers, who will be on their way back from the China leg of their trip that aims to end the military operation in the Gaza region, will hold talks in India in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stress on dialogue and diplomacy as the way to end the crisis.

The delegation will include Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Jordanian deputy PM and foreign minister Ayman Safadi, Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry and Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki.


Egypt and Jordan share boundary and diplomatic ties with Israel.

The agenda for the Arab foreign ministers' visit is to engage in discussions concerning the ongoing crisis in West Asia. They will meet external affairs minister S Jaishankar.

On Monday, the Arab ministers called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as their delegation visited Beijing for the first leg of a tour to push for an end to hostilities and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. They will also travel to Moscow in this regard.

"We are here to send a clear signal, that is we must immediately stop fighting and the killings; we must immediately deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza," Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said in Beijing on Monday.

India has welcomed international efforts aimed at defusing the conflict and facilitating urgent humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine. New Delhi has dispatched humanitarian aid to Palestine, delivering 70 tonnes of disaster relief materials, including 17 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies, in two instalments.

India had initially backed Israel against the terror attack, but has now adopted a more nuanced approach by calling for upholding international humanitarian law and the need for a two-state solution.