'What Happened On Oct 7 Tragic, But Reaction Even Worse': Shashi Tharoor On Israel-Gaza War

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called for a ceasefire as soon as possible and said that 41,000 people in Gaza have lost their lives.

File photo of Shashi Tharoor.

Source : PTI

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor reacted to the Israel-Gaza conflict as the conflict in the Middle East entered its second year on October 7. Tharoor said though the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 was deeply tragic, the reaction has been even worse. 

The Congress MP called for a ceasefire as soon as possible and said that 41,000 people in Gaza have lost their lives. 

"What happened on October 7 a year ago was deeply tragic, 1200 people were killed, mainly innocent civilians, and 200 were kidnapped with hostages. But subsequently, the reaction has been in many ways, just as bad or even worse, because whereas Israel would be said to be exercising the right of self-defence, initially, subsequently, it has, it has gone to the extent of 41,000 lives lost, most of the population of Gaza displaced, the terrible destruction of that entire area and, of course, large numbers of schools, hospitals, health care centres, mosques, all sorts of things have been destroyed," Tharoor said. 

Calling it a tragic conflict, Tharoor said that no one expected to see the war going on for a full year. 

"It's been a very tragic conflict. And I think, in all fairness, this time last year, none of us expected to see a war going on for a full year. All we can do is join the government in calling for a ceasefire as soon as possible," he added. 

The Congress MP also said that the conflict in the Middle East widening with the Israel's escalation in Lebanon.
 
"We now instead see the widening of the war northwards towards Lebanon, where, again, there have been some successes on the Israeli part. But again, a lot of civilian lives also appear to be lost, and in the process of being lost, as well as a lot of accompanying devastation," he added.