New Delhi: The body of 32-year-old Soumya Santhosh, who was killed in a fire shot by Hamas in Israel, has arrived in Delhi.
It will be reaching her native state Kerala on Saturday afternoon. BJP leader from Kerala and Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, received the body in Delhi airport and paid his tributes.
“With a heavy heart, received the mortal remains of Ms. Soumya Santhosh in Delhi and paid my last respects. Charge D’ Affairs (CDA) of Israel Embassy Rony Yedidia also joined. I empathise with the pain and sufferings of the family of Ms. Soumya. More strength to them,” he tweeted along with the snap of him laying a wreath on Soumya’s coffin.
The 32-year-old Santhosh, who hails from Idukki in Kerala was working as a caregiver in Israel for the last
seven years. She lost her life on Tuesday (May 11) when the building she was residing in, in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, was hit by a rocket fired by Hamas. In fact, reports say she was on a video call with her husband when her building was hit by the rocket.
The Congress has issued a statement on Friday on the ongoing fierce conflict between Israel and Hamas, but was more guarded; and almost took the side of Hamas, which otherwise was perhaps responsible for the death of Soumya.
“Palestinian people’s right to pray at Al Asqa mosque without any restriction must always be respected and not violated. The orchestrated incidents in Jerusalem were outrageous and triggered tensions and violence,” Congress leader and in-charge of party’s foreign affairs Anand Sharma said in a statement.
BJP state president K Surendran wanted to know whether Kerala’s ruling party (CPI-M) and the opposition (Congress) are silent on the killing of Soumya because Hamas extremists are their allies.
Many supporters of Palestine reminded the Congress about the warm relations India had with Palestine when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister. They even posted old photographs of Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat with Indira Gandhi.
The CPI-M politburo has issued a statement against the ‘Israeli attack on Palestine.’ “The Polit Bureau of the CPI (M) denounces the Israeli attacks on Palestinians. The air raids carried out by Israel on the Gaza strip led to the death of many Palestinian citizens. Israel is moving towards the complete occupation of East Jerusalem by attacking Palestinians who were protesting it’s attempt to forcefully expel residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood to make way for Jewish settlements. Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest shrine for Muslims and injured hundreds of people praying in the Mosque during the month of Ramadan,” the statement said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, however, had written a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to
intervene to bring back the body of Soumya.
Reports from Kerala said, Palestine Ambassador to India, Adnan Abul Hayjaa, to be the chief guest at the ‘online function’ organized by Muslim Youth League in Kozhikode on the Id-ul Fitr day to express ‘solidarity’ with Palestine.
Muslim organisations in Kerala have stepped up their protest after violence escalated in the Gaza region. The Al-Aqsa Mosque or “the Farthest Mosque” located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the third holiest site in Islam.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel had no plans on relenting its attacks against Hamas in Gaza, after heavy bombardment targeting the Islamists in the Palestinian enclave.
“They attacked our capital, they fired rockets at our cities. They’re paying and will continue to pay dearly for that,” he said. In the entire conflict it appears, Hamas is keen to emerge as a potent Palestiian forces that is able to stand up against Israel to “defend” Islam’s third-holiest site.
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